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THE 

CAMPAIGN IN BELGIUM 



QUATEE BEAS, LIGNY 



AND WATEELOO 



A NARRATIVE OP THE CAMPAIGN IN BELGIUM, 1815 



BY 



DORSET GARDNER 




BOSTON 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN, & CO. 

1882 






Copyright, 1882, 
By DORSEY GARDNER. 

All rishts reserved. 



PEEFACE. 



r 



The following pages are intended to afford a some- 
what detailed narrative of the events of the campaign 
in Belgium during the four days June 15-18, 18 15. 
Military criticism, as far as possible, is excluded ; and 
where it is essential the writer has in general preferred 
to use the words of those entitled to speak with an 
authority to which he has no claim. 

To excuse the addition of another detailed account 
of the Campaign and Battle of Waterloo to the already 
redundant writings on the subject, the writer may be 
pardoned for citing his own experience. Having occa- 
sion to acquaint himself with these events, he found, on 
consulting the standard authorities, that no existing 
narrative set forth accurately the general features of 
the campaign and the four battles included in it. The 
popular notions concerning them he found to be mostly 
derived from accounts prepared at the time, hastily 
and from inadequate information, yet which secured a 
standing from which they have never been dislodged. 
In many later writings national vanities and prejudices, 
disingenuous statements by the original actors or in 
their behalf, suppressions of evidence since brought to 



VI PREFACE. 

light, anecdotes flattering or the reverse, obscurities 
generated by controversy, the use of haphazard con- 
jecture in the place of exact knowledge — all these have 
combined to make the accepted story of Waterloo unin- 
telligible and misleading. But of late years honest and 
capable investigators have collated the Waterloo litera- 
ture of many countries and sifted out the truth from the 
overlying falsehood. None of them, it has so happened, 
has put the result of his labour into the form of con- 
secutive narrative ; yet they have made it possible for 
others to do so. The collecting of such an account is 
what has been attempted in the following pages. 

As to the Campaign and Battle of Waterloo, the in- 
dispensable source of information is the History of the 
War in France and Belgium in 1815, by Captain 
William Siborne. The elaborate maps and plans of 
that work, its tables showing authentically and in de- 
tail the strength of all the armies engaged, its un- 
abridged transcript of orders by the several command- 
ers, and the author's painstaking accuracy and tho- 
roughness, together with a fair-mindedness very unusual 
among national-history writers, render it possible to 
follow his account almost implicitly — as far as it goes. 
In his narrative of events that were known to him 
Siborne made his book exhaustive, and his descriptions 
of particular passages in battles are frequently clear and 
spirited, so that many of them are here cited hterally. 
But his work is incomplete as to some essential facts 
which have been brought to light since he wrote (in 
1844), and his general method of narration, as well as 
his structure of sentences, is so diffuse and involved — 
in a word, he is so phenomenally destitute of the power 



PREFACE. Vli 

of expression — that it is often only by repeated readings 
that one can get at the purport of what he had to say. 
Added to this drawback, Siborne wrote in the capacity 
of a semi-official historiographer ; so that the disclosure 
of his opinions about men and events was hampered by 
restraints of a quasi-diplomatic nature, while his bhnd 
adulation of the Duke of Wellington's military infalli- 
bility invalidates many of his judgments. In brief, no 
full knowledge of the Waterloo Campaign can be ob- 
tained without use of Siborne's materials, but a clear 
understanding of it cannot be extracted from his pages 
without extraneous aid — the aid, moreover, of writers 
greatly his superiors in mihtary knowledge. 

The means of reaching a full comprehension of the 
outlines of the campaign are afforded in the Waterloo 
Lectures, a Study of the Campaign of 1 815, by the late 
Colonel Charles C. Chesney. This book — which does not 
comprise a narrative of the events it analyses and discusses 
— was first published in England in 1868 ; translations 
into French and German introduced it to the mihtary 
students of the Continent ; and, as the product of their 
criticisms, and the consequent additions engrafted into 
its third edition ([874), we have in it the embodiment 
of what had been done up to that time in Waterloo 
criticism by the writers of England, Prussia, France, 
Austria, and Belgium. Without reciting the incidents of 
the campaign, it corrects the errors, settles the doubts, 
supplies the omissions of previous narrators, and — • 
doubtless by design, though it is nowhere so declared — 
completes the information which is deficient in Siborne's 
story. The book is especially noteworthy for its mer- 
ciless and irrefragable exposure of the mendacity with 



Vlll PREFACE. 

which Napoleon, followed by Thiers, sought to shift 
upon Marshals Ney and Grouchy the blame for the 
French overthrow at Waterloo. It presupposes a 
familiarity with the details of the campaign ; but it, or 
its equivalent, is essential to a mastery of these details. 

For the battle itself, it has nowhere been outlined 
so firmly as in the Notes on the Battle of Waterloo^ by 
General Sir James Shaw Kennedy, posthumously pub- 
lished in 1868. The author — who in 181 5 was Captain 
Shaw — served on the Duke of WelHngton's staff during 
the battle, and had an exceptional insight into its de- 
termining incidents, as well as an important part in at 
least one of them. His analysis and clear exposition of 
the several phases of the action afford a complete inter- 
pretation of what all previous accounts presented as a 
chaos of disconnected and incoherent struggles. Like 
Chesney, he was a master of those higher principles of 
military science in which Siborne was little skilled, and 
had the gift of demonstrating their application to the 
comprehension of the unlearned in his art. But his 
pages afford no more than a bare outline sketch of the 
grand events of the day, told with a brevity that 
amounts to curtness, and he leaves the details to be 
filled in from other sources. 

Only one other of the books on Waterloo need be 
particidarly mentioned. This is the Histoire de la 
CamjMgne de 1815, by Lieutenant-Colonel Ch arras — a 
work in which an accomplished military theorist goes over 
the events with nearly the fulness of Siborne, throwing 
upon them very often entirely new lights. Charras had 
commanded in the French army in Algeria ; he had 
lield high position in the War Office at Paris under the 



PREFACE. IX 

Eepublic ; lie was driven into exile and bitter hostility 
to Bonapartism by Napoleon III, and thus found at 
once the incentive, the opportunity, and the leisure to 
produce a work which is in its way a masterpiece. 
Aware of the hitherto unused stores of facts in the 
French War Office records, he had them searched and 
summarised for him by friends in Paris ; the War 
Minister of the Netherlands gave him access to all their 
archives ; he studied all previous writings on the sub- 
ject ; during a three years' residence at Brussels he 
made repeated and careful surveys of the ground fought 
over ; he sought information from participants in the 
campaign, French, Belgian, English, and Prussian ; and, 
as the result of all this laborious examination, he pub- 
lished, in 1857, a work which was instantly recognised 
as authoritative, which cleared up much that was pre- 
viously obscure and reversed many opinions that had pre- 
viously been treated as settled, and which has never been 
controverted in any material respect. A reader who 
should confine himself to a single book upon Waterloo 
ought, beyond all question, to make choice of Charras's. 
Yet it is to be read with a certain caution. It was 
written expressly and avowedly for the disparagement 
of the military reputation of Napoleon, The writer 
does not — like Thiers, on the other side — suppress, per- 
vert, falsify ; he writes honestly, and fortifies his asser- 
tions ; yet he is distinctly pleading a cause, and his 
reader must be continually on his guard. In another 
respect his representations must be received with allow- 
ance : he wrote, as it were, as the guest and under the 
auspices of the Belgian Government ; and he has re- 
quited this hospitality by softening, so far as extreme 



X PREFACE. 

ingenuity availed, the ignominious part which Belgium 
played in the war. One other respect in which the 
book differs from its predecessors is that the writer 
thoroughly realised that Napoleon, at the time of the 
Waterloo campaign, was in a state of health that inca- 
pacitated him from such exertions, physical or intellec- 
tual, as he had made in former wars. Charras has in- 
deed perceived and said thus much ; but he has not 
shown — perha]Ds it could not be shown except by evi- 
dence that has been produced since he wrote — that 
Napoleon's condition was of itself sufficient, apart from 
other causes, to bring about the miscarriage of his 
enterprise. 

The other works here followed are sufficiently cha- 
racterised in the notes upon the pages where they are 
cited, and it will be sufficient in this place to enumerate 
the titles of the more important in an order approxi- 
mating to that of their relative usefulness and trust- 
worthiness : — - 

Col. Charles C. Chesney — Wateiioo Lectures : a Study of 
the Campaign of 1 8 1 5 . 

General Sir J. Shaw Kennedy — Notes on Waterloo. 

Captain William Siborne — History of the War in France 
and Belgium in 1 8 1 5 . 

Lieutenant-Colonel CharvsiS—Histoire de la Campagne de 
1 8 1 5 : Waterloo. 

Duke of Wellington — Memorandum on General Clause- 
witz's Campaign of 181 5. 

George Hooper — Waterloo. 

Erckmann-Chatrian — Waterloo. 

General Baron de Jomini — Life of Napoleon. 

„ „ „ — Political and Military Sum- 

mary of the Campaign of 18 15. (An elaboration of a 
chapter in the preceding.) 



PREFACE. XI 

General Sir Edward Cast — Annals of the Wars of the 

Nineteenth Century. 
Sir Archibald Alison — History of Europe. 
Sir Walter Scott — Life of Napoleon Biionajparte. 

„ „ — Paul's Letter's to his Kinsfolk. 

Capt. J. W. Pringle — Remarks on the Campaign of 1 8 1 5 . 

(Printed as an Appendix to ScotVs Napoleon.) 
J. Gr. Lockhart — Life of Napoleon. 

Adolphe Thiers — History of the Consulate and the Empire. 
Kev. G. E. Gleig — Story of the Battle of Waterloo. 
Rev. John S. C. Abbott — History of Napoleon Bonaparte. 
William Hazlitt — Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. ' 
Victor Hugo — A passage in Les Miserables on the Battle 

of Waterloo. 

The recently published Letters of Metternich, Tal- 
leyrand, and Mme. de Eemusat add nothing to our 
knowledge of this campaign. Since this book was com- 
pleted Mr. John C. Eopes has published in the Atlantic 
Monthly (June, 1881) an article entitled Who Lost 
Waterloo f in which he puts the blame of the defeat 
upon Grouchy, because his march to Wavre was con- 
ducted on the east of the river Dyle, " outside of" the 
Prussians ; whereas, if he had crossed the river at 
Mousty early on the morning of June 18, and taken 
the interior line for his advance, thus interposing be- 
tween the Prussians and the Grand Army, Napoleon 
might then have employed his whole force against 
Wellington's unsupported army, and have beaten it 
by 3 P.M. This course, says Mr. Eopes, would certainly 
have been taken by " Davoust, whom [Napoleon] might 
have had, and ought to have had, in Grouchy's place." 
The documents given in the course of the following 
narrative, however, prove, as it seems to the writer, 
beyond room for doubt, that the false direction of the 



Xll PREFACE. 

march and its fatal consequences were chargeable solely 
to Napoleon, and to his unprecedented apathy about 
ascertaining the purposes of Blltcher. Moreover, Mr. 
Eopes does not touch upon the consideration that 
Wellington would not have accepted battle except upon 
the absolute certainty of Bllicher's co-operation. One 
very damaging fact, nevertheless, he seems to substan- 
tiate against Grouchy — his " wilful concealment " and 
" persistent denial," during nearly thirty years, of an 
order in which Napoleon warned him against a possible 
union of Bllicher with Wellington, and enjoined upon 
him the importance of preserving constant communica- 
tion with headquarters.^ 

Charras's warning of the importance of regarding 
the dates of this campaign may explain the prominence 
which has been given them throughout this work. He 
says : — 

" We are obliged to enter into minute details, but it is an 
inconvenience inherent in the recital of this campaign, so short 
in its duration. Hours here had, so to say, an influence as 
great as days in other wars, and it is necessary to fix them 
with precision, to write with the watch on the table, to avoid 
being led astray by statements tending to mislead (^s'egarer 
a la suite des recits interesses a V inexactitude).'''' 

To secure the absolute precision in this respect, by the 
neglect of which so much error has been imported into 
the story of this campaign, the expedient has been 
adopted of stating not only the day, but, whenever 
possible, the hour of each incident so prominently that 
they cannot be overlooked and may readily be coin- 

^ This suppressed order is inserted in its proper place in the narrative, 
page 148, note 88. 



PREFACE. Xlll 

pared. When a date is no better than presumptive 
or conjectural, it is accompanied by a note of interro- 
gation (?) ; when it has been in dispute, the justification 
of the one adopted is given in a footnote ; when stated 
without quahfication, it is to be understood that, in the 
writer's opinion, there is no room for doubt respecting 
it. 

There remains one further explanation of a peculiar 
arrangement adopted in the composition of this work. 
The text was designed to form as nearly as possible a 
continuous and chronological record of events ; at the 
same time, there was much in the nature of parenthesis, 
of explanation, of illustration, of anecdote, of contro- 
versy, that ought not to be excluded. Such mattery 
have been treated in notes which — leaving the text com- 
plete in itself — furnish a rejDOsitory for a miscellaneous 
store of Waterloo fact and fiction, some of it important, 
some trivial, but all, as it seemed to the compiler, having 
claim to attention. The advantage of an uninterrupted 
narrative must be his apology for the unusual array of 
footnotes. 

D. a. 

New York: July, 1881 



Plans. 

AifGLO- Allied Armt .... to face page 2o\ 
Remains of Anglo-Allied Cavalry . „ „ 323 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Those events of the earlier part of the Hundred Days ^ introduc- 
which are essential as an introduction to the campaign ^^- — 
of Waterloo may be briefly summarized. Leaving Elba 
— which for nearly ten months had been his place of 
exile — at the end of the winter of 1 8 1 5, Napoleon landed Feb. 26, 
on the coast of France on the first day of spring, pre- March i. 
pared to reclaim his forfeited throne.^ His advance 
toward the capital, unpromising in some of its earlier 
incidents, soon became a triumphal progress ; one after 
another of those sent to turn back his invasion joined 
his standard — chief among them Marshal Ney, with 
whose defection the Bourbons lost all hope of support March 14. 
by any part of the army ; — Louis XVIH fled as he drew March 19. 
near, betaking himself first to Lille, and then establish- 
ing his court at Ghent ; and Napoleon, having gained 
back his Empire without shedding a drop of blood, re-en- 
tered the Tuileries amid the rapturous applause of his March 20. 
adherents. The restored Emperor lost no time in ap- 
plying himself to the settlement of his government, and 

1 "The Hundred Days" are com- consisted of 500 grenadiers of Ms 

puted from Marcli 13, 1815, when Guard, 200 dragoons, and 100 Polish 

Napoleon assumed the government, to lancers — all of whom were soldiers 

June 22, the day of his second ahdi- of the old Grand Army who had 

cation. followed him to Elha. The cavalry 

" Napoleon's entire following, were unmounted, and carried their 

when he disembarked at Cannes, saddles on their backs. 

B 



2 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, ATsD WATERLOO. 

particularly to the execution of four imperative tasks — 
(i) the establishment of his power in Erance itself; (2) 
the creation of armies and the material of war ; (3) the 
adjustment of the national finances ; and (4) the organi- 
zation of the diplomatic relations and civil administra- 
tion of the government. 

(i) In the assertion of his power at home JSTapoleon 
lost no time. Eoyalist uprisings were on foot in southern 
France even before he had reached Paris, and quickly 
overspread Guienne, Languedoc, Provence, and Bor- 
deaux. But Imperial troops were promptly dispatched 
from Lyons, with instructions to " put an end to the civil 
war at whatever cost ; " and so energetically were these 
carried out that, on April 29th, a salute of 100 guns from 
all the fortresses of France annoimced that the Imperial 
authority was everywhere established. Almost in- 
stantly, however (May ist), the Marquis de la Eoche- 
jaquelain made a descent upon the coast of La Vendee, 
and aroused so general an insurrection among the 
peasantry that his followers soon nuinbered 20,000 
armed men ; and the prolonged struggle which ensued, 
though ultimately abortive, served to retain in the west 
the r 7,000 French veterans sent to quell it, and lessened 
by so much the Emperor's strength at Waterloo. 

(2) The military force of Erance had gone almost to 
j)ieces under the Bourbons. The arsenals had been 
emptied by the drains of previous campaigns and the 
abstractions of the invading armies ; the fortresses along 
the exposed eastern frontier had been stripped by the 
Allies, who took 12,000 pieces of cannon from 53 for- 
tresses ; and equipments of every kind were wanting for 
the army. At once double forces of workmen were 
employed at all the manufactories of arms, and 20,000 
mnskets a month were thus produced, while this inade- 
quate supply was increased by establishing bodies of 



NAPOXEON'S TASK. 3 

workmen at different j)oints, and by callii^g in the old inti-oduc- 
arms, repairing, and re-issuing them ; all foundries were °^- — 
engaged in casting guns ; horses were bought at all the 
fairs and from the peasants ; every commune was called 
upon to furnish its proportion of the clothing and uni- 
forms for a battalion ; and by the end of May equip- 
ments were provided for 220,000 troops. As to the 
army itself, Napoleon found at the end of March only 
100,000 troops of the line, and these " re-organized " by 
the Bourbons upon a pre-Eevolutionary model. His 
first step was to re-form the old regiments, to give them 
back the old numbers and the eagles which spoke of 
their past glories, and to recall to their standards by 
proclamation the veterans who had been pensioned or 
discharged under the Eestoration. At the same time 
he ordered the formation of the 3d, 4th, and 5th bat- 
talions of every old regiment of infantry and of the 4th 
and 5th squadrons of every regiment of cavalry, of 30 
new battalions of artillery, 10 of waggon-train, 20 regi- 
ments of the Young Guard, and 20 of marines ; and, by 
the reorganization of the National Guard and other 
measures, he arranged to have by October i st an effective 
force of 800,000 men, and counted on having ultimately 
an armed establishment numbering, of all kinds, 
2,500,000. The actually effective field forces on June 
ist were about 200,000.^ 

(3) The financial clifiiculties which confronted Napo- 
leon seemed little short of insurmountable, and might 

^ The strength with which Na- 198,000. It may he ohserved in ge- 
poleon entered upon the Waterloo neral that quotations of figures in 
campaign has usually heen stated at this narrative, when not otherwise 
higher numbers than 200,000. Si- accounted for, are taken from Si- 
borne, for instance, gives jt as borne, corrected by Ohesney or 
217,000. But Ool. Chesney, in Charras when occasion requires, 
his Waterloo Lectures, after examin- The distribution of the troops above 
ing Oharras's scrutiny of the War referred to will be found in note 6, 
Bureau records at Paris, sets it at page 9. 

B 2 



4 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

have proved wholly so, had the Empu^e been given a 
new lease of life. The economies of Louis XVIII had 
left some 40,000,000 francs in the treasury, with nearly 
as much to come in from bills about to mature for the 
sale of national wood ; but the first six weeks' expendi- 
tures of the Imperial government served to exhaust the 
cash in hand, though it was husbanded by getting sup- 
phes by military requisition, when possible, or by paying 
with orders on the treasury at distant dates — a proce- 
dure which ultimately brought no small trouble to the 
restored Bourbons. For present needs, it proved that 
arrears of taxes were almost irrecoverable, and that 
capitalists — who, with all people of substance, had no 
faith in the stability of the Empire — ^declined to make 
advances on any terms. In this exigency, the sinking- 
fund — which had remained intact through all previous 
emergencies, and which yielded 4,000,000 francs per 
annum — was sold after much solicitation to an unwil- 
ling association of bankers for 31,000,000 francs in 
ready money ; bills about to fall due were discounted 
at rates as high as 18 per cent., and the revenues of 
future years forestalled in various ways ; so that during 
April and May 80,000,000 francs were raised. This 
sufficed to meet the unavoidable needs of the Empire 
until it went down in the crash of Waterloo. 

(4) Napoleon's efforts to establish diplomatic rela- 
tions with the Powers of Europe were — as, indeed, he 
foresaw must be the case — wholly unproductive. Their 
determination to suppress him had been proclaimed 
before he remounted his throne. When the news of his 
departure from Elba reached Vienna, there was still in 
session there that Congress of the Allied Powers which 
had originally assembled to readjust the affairs of 
Europe, left in a chaotic state on the downfall of the 
Empire ; and its meetings had been prolonged by the 



NAPOLEON'S TASK. 5 

dissensions among the Powers themselves and their introduc- 
jealousies respecting the territories to be partitioned "^^' 



among them, — insomuch that the peacemakers seemed 
not unhkely to go to war with one another, and still 
retained on foot armies aggregating nearly a million of 
men. At first the representatives at Vienna were in 
doubt as to Napoleon's probable movements, and 
imagined that he would betake himself to Naples, 
where his brother-in-law Murat was making ready for 
war. But soon they received intelligence that he had March 9. 
landed in France, that troops had joined him, that he 
was moving toward Paris ; and then it was clear that 
he aimed at nothing less than resuming the sovereignty 
of France. The Vienna plenipotentiaries quickly indi- 
cated the intentions of their governments by issuing the March 13- 
following declaration of outlawry : 

" The Powers which signed the Treaty of Paris, re-assembled 
in Congress at Vienna, informed of the escape of Napoleon 
Bonaparte and of his entry with an armed force into France, 
owe it to their own dignity and to the interest of nations to 
make a solemn announcement of their sentiments on the occa- 
sion. By thus breaking the convention which had established 
him in the island of Elba, Bonaparte has destroyed the sole 
legal title on which his existence depended ; and by appearing 
again in France with projects of confusion and disorder, he has 
deprived himself of the protection of the laws, and has mani- 
fested to the universe that there can be neither peace nor truce 
with him. The Powers consequently declare that Napoleon 
Bonaparte has placed himself without the pale of civil and 
social relations, and that, as an enemy and disturber of the 
tranquillity of the world, he is abandoned to public vengeance. 
They declare at the same time that, firmly resolved to maintain 
entire the Treaty of Paris of the 30th of May, 18 14, and the 
dispositions sanctioned by that treaty, they will employ all the 
means at their disposal to secure the preservation of general 
peace, the object of "all their efforts ; and, although firmly per- 
suaded that the whole of France will combine to crush this last 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



mad attempt of criminal ambition, yet, if it should prove other- 
wise, they declare that they are ready to unite all their efforts, 
and exert all the powers at their disposal, to give the King of 
France all necessary assistance, and make common cause against 

all those who shall compromise the public tranquillity — 

[Signed] Metternich, Talleyrand, Wellington, Hardenberg, 
Nesselrode, Lowenheim." 

In the spirit of this declaration, moreover, a Treaty 
of Alliance was presently concluded, by which Eussia, 
Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain engaged to unite 
their forces against Napoleon ; to furnish 1 80,000 men 
each for the prosecution of the war, of which at least 
one-tenth was to be cavalry, with a fair proportion of 
artillery ; and, if necessary, to draw forth their entire 
military forces."^ Inasmuch as the Continental Powers 



* Accompanying these measures 
of the sovereigns was a popular up- 
rising throughout Europe, of which 
Charras gives this picture : — " Ger- 
many was seized with enthusiasm 
and with fiu-y as in 1813. The 
desks of the church and of the uni- 
versity were changed anew into tri- 
bunes whence there resounded every 
instant the appeal to arms for the 
safety of the country. The profes- 
sors again quitted their robes for uni- 
forms. Their pupils resumed the 
musket. The songs of Arndt, of 
Korner, the popular Tyrtseuses of 
Germany, once more awakened the 
echoes of town and country. Jour- 
nals, pamphlets, proclamations thick- 
ened, and succeeded one another 
without intermission, exciting me- 
mories of injuries endured, of blood 
shed, of fortunes ruined, kindling all 
the brands of hatred, launching me- 
nace and insult, not only against 
Napoleon, but also, alas ! against 
France. — There were the exactions 
of Berlin and Hamburg, the exces- 



sive and endless requisitions, the 
contingents devoured by the war ; 
there was the grand iniquity of the 
Continental blockade, imposed and 
maintained by Napoleon against the 
stranger but violated by himself, for 
his own profit, along the boundaries 
of the Empire ; there were Rome, 
Holland, Oldenburg, the Hanseatic 
towns,etc., incorporated with France, 
in time of peace, in despite of trea- 
ties ; there were the violations of 
neutrality, the assassination of Vin- 
cennes, the ambush of Bayonne, the 
invasion of Spain, the peoples given 
in appanage to the brothers, the sis- 
ters, the lieutenants of Napoleon ; 
there were also the evils inseparable 
from every war which were invoked 
to arouse the nations against him 
who had sought, who again sought, 
the monarchy of Europe, and against 
the French people — his accomplice, 
they said. — This unanimity had never 
before existed. . . . The strife 
was at hand, imminent. Europe was 
engaging her whole power ; it was 



NAPOLEON'S TASK. 



were utterly bankrupt, Great Britain undertook to introduc- 
enable them to put their armies in motion by advancing 



tory. 



them subsidies exceeding £11,000,000.® Within six 
months at the latest, the Allies calculated forces 
amounting, after all reasonable deductions, to 600,000 
men could be brought to invade France from every 
side, and once again to concentrate under the walls 
of Paris. = With the Allies in this warhke temper, all 
Napoleon's efforts to negotiate with them were in vain. 
His circular letter to the sovereigns — which began in April i. 
the usual style, " Sir, my brother," and professed an 
earnest desire for peace — received no answer ; all 
Caulaincourt's diplomatic overtures were similarly ig- 
nored, and his bearers of dispatches arrested or turned 
back ; and at last he was confidentially informed that it 
was useless to try to make the Allies depart from their 
determination. Napoleon, therefore, made ready to 
repel the attack which it had proved impossible to 
avert, and resolved to do this by falhng in the first 
instance upon the troops which the Allies had assembled 
in Belgium.^ 



necessary, therefore, that the chief 
of the Empii'e, so suddenly restored, 
should lose not a day, not an hour, 
in preparing the national defence. 
Days were months, months years, at 
this terrible epoch. He needed cou- 
rage instantly to proclaim the supreme 
gravity of his circumstances, to ap- 



Austria . 


. £1,796,220 


Portugal. £100,000 


Russia . 


• 3;24I,9I9 


Sweden . 521,061 


Prussia . 


. 2,382,823 


Italy and 


Hanover 


206,590 


Nether- 


Spain 


147,333 


lands . 78,152 



peal solemnly to France, to her whole 
energy, in the name of her imperilled 
independence." 

^ The full text of the Treaty is 
given by Siborne. The subsidies, 
which England undertook to pay in 
monthly instalments, are thus enu- 
merated by Alison : — 



Minor Powers . £1,724,000 
Miscellaneous . 837,134 



In all 



£11,035,232 



Portugal and Sweden, howeVer — 
alone among the states of Europe, — 
refused to furnish any contingents. 
^ Brialmont summarizes in the 



following terms the Allies' plan of 
military operations : — " Schwartzen- 
berg was about to pass the Rhine in 
two columns — the rightat Mannheim 



QUATKE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



In the arrangement of his civil afiairs Napoleon had 
found difficulties only less than in his foreign relations. 



and Germersheim, the left at Basle 
and Rheinfelden. The one was to 
move upon Chalons by Marne, the 
other by St. Dizier. The right 
column was to connect itself with 
the Prussian amaj, which had orders 
to pass the Sarre above the point 
where Schwartzenberg passed it, 
the Moselle between Thionville and 
Metz, the Meuse near to Verdun. 
The points of direction for the Rus- 
sians were Ohalons-sur-Marne and 
Rheims. Kleist's corps was to ob- 
serve and attack the forts of the 
Meuse in the direction of Sedan. 
Finally, Wellington and Bliicher 



were to regulate their movements 
according to the progress of the Rus- 
sians and the Austrians, and to take 
the road toward Laon, debouching 
by Maubeuge and Auvergne. As to 
the Austro-Sardinians, they were in- 
structed to march upon Lyons, to 
ascend for a while the course of the 
Lou-e, and to fall in upon the left of 
Schwartzenberg." The operations 
actually accomplished by these seve- 
ral Allied forces are summarized by 
Siborne in the Su2}plement to his 
History of the War in France and 
Belgium. Their respective strength 
was as follows : — 



Anglo- Allied Army, 
Prussian Army 
German Corps d'Armde 
Army of the Upper Rhine 
Russian Army 
Army of Italy 



under Wellington . . , 105,950 

„ Bliicher .... 116,897 

„ Kleist .... 26,200 

Schwartzenberg . . 254,492 

Barclay de Tolly . . 167,950 

Frimont. . • . 60,000 



Total Allied Armies in the field, June, 181 5 . 731,489 



Napoleon's possible lines of action 
under these circumstances are thus 
enumerated by Brialmont : — " Fwst, 
he might negotiate, though that pro- 
ceeding oiFered no chance of success. 
[Its failure has already been detailed 
in the text.] . . Second, he might 
remain upon the defensive, and ac- 
cept the attack of the Allies near 
Paris and Lyons. But this would 
be to deliver over half of France to 
the enemy, to throw the populace 
into consternation, and discourage 
the troops. Third, he might advance 
against the Anglo-Prussians, and 
beat them before the other contin- 
gents could come up. But this was 
to precipitate the war, while as yet 
no army had been brought together 



strong enough to maintain the con- 
test with fair chances of success. 
This latter inconvenience, however, 
appeared less serious than the others. 
At all events, the Emperor suffered 
himself to be carried away by one 
urgent consideration : — ' The plan 
of anticipating the Anglo-Prussians,' 
said he, ' was alone in conformity 
with the genius of the nation, and 
with the spirit and principles of the 
war in which he was engaged ; and 
it would get rid of the fearful incon- 
venience which attached to the second 
project, viz., the abandonment of 
Flanders, Picardy, Alsace, Lorraine, 
Champagne, Burgundy, Franche- 
Oomt6, Dauphin6, without firing a 
shot.'" According to Oharras, Napo- 



NAPOLEON'S TASK. 



Enthusiastic as his partizans appeared at his return, few intioduc- 

of them were willing, to accept the dangerous honour of 

holding office under him ; and it was with great diffi- 
culty that he overcame the reluctance of the eight men 
who formed his cabinet — Cambaceres, Davoust, Caulain- 
court, Fouche, Carnot, Gaudin, MoUiere, and Decres : — 
while he could only officer the interior departments of 
government by appointing persons previously discarded 
in disgrace or whose mutual jealousies and sympathies 



leon made a serious modification in 
his original plan. " While he sum- 
moned the corps of Gerard from the 
frontier of the Moselle to that on 
the North," says Charras, " he left 
the corps of Rapp in Alsace, and 
thus voluntarily deprived himself of a 
force of ahove 20,000 men, vpho would 
be powerless where he left them, but 
who, if led into Belgium, would have 
weighed heavily in the balance of 
war. He falsified this principle so 
justly laid down, so often and so 
happily applied, by himself— to con- 
centrate his forces upon the princi- 
pal point, and not to endeavour to 
have them everywhere, at the cost 



of being powerful nowhere. A 
grave fault, which he was about, but 
too late, to attempt to correct ! " = Of 
the troops with which Napoleon 
purposed operating, only the Grand 
Army, which he led in person, was 
in an effective condition when he 
was obliged to take the field. The 
other corps were but the nuclei of 
future armies, for which recruiting 
was going on in the interior. The 
position of each of these, together 
with their strength in the beginning 
of Jime and as it would have be- 
come a few weeks later, was as fol- 
lows : — 





Commander 


Headquarters 


Streng'tli 


Prospec- 
tive 


Grand Army 








strength 


Napoleon 




122,401 




Army of the Rhine .... 




Rapp 


Strasburg 


36,000 


— 


„ „ Alps .... 




Suchet 


Grenoble 


15,000 


40,000 


„ „ Jura .... 




Lecourbe 


Altkirch 


4,500 


18,000 


„ Var .... 




Prune 


Marseilles 


5>3oo 


17,000 


„ „ Eastern Pyrenees 




Decaen 


Perpignan 


3,000 


23,000 


„ „ Western Pyrenees 




Clauzel 


Pordeanx 


3,000 


23,000 


,, „ La Vendee . . 




Lamarque 


— 


17,000 


— 



The Armies of the Rhine and the 
Alps, here mentioned, were to be 
increased by above 200,000 men, and 
to form the second line and support 
of the Grand Army in Napoleon's 



further operations. In all, Napoleon 
had in the field, in the middle of 
June, but 206,200 men, to oppose to 
the 731,489 whom, the Allies had 
then in arms. 



lO QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

introdiic- with conflictiiig factions disposed tliem to serve him only 
— — so far as was conducive to their own ulterior designs. 
Through such instrumentahties he had to reconcile, as 
best he might, the discordant parties which distracted 
France, to establish a representative constitution, and to 
organize the legislative body. Scarcely had the decree 

April 30. been issued, providing for the election of deputies to the 
Chamber of Eepresentatives, when it appeared that the 
substantial citizens declined to take any part in the con- 
test, and the deputies returned were for the most part 
political adventurers, demagogues, and enthusiasts, httle 
better in the aggregate than those who held sway dur- 
ing the Eevolution, and many of them the creatures of 

June 4. Fouche. At the meeting of the Chamber for organiza- 
tion it became evident not merely that there was a 
strong opposition, but that it existed with the conni- 
vance of some of the ministers themselves. Subsequent 
sessions disclosed a set determination on the part of the 
deputies to magnify their own functions as the represen- 
tatives of the people, to thwart the Imperial authority 
at every step, to make even matters of military policy sub- 
servient to their views- — in short, to render themselves, 
if opportunity served, the supreme source of power ; 
and this disposition on the part of the legislature was 
accompanied by such processions and other demonstra- 
tions by the mob of Paris as to awaken fears that the 
Eevolutionary excesses were to come again. Such was 
the state of things in his capital when, on the eve of his 

June II. departure for the army. Napoleon delivered his farewell 
address to the Chambers. In moderate yet earnest 
terms he adjured them to preserve harmony in their 
counsels and a single regard to the welfare of the state. 
" The crisis in which we are engaged," said he, " is a 
terrible one : let us not imitate the Greeks, who, pressed 
on all sides by barbarians, made themselves the mock of 



ANGLO- ALLIED POSITION. II 

posterity by engaging in abstract discussions at the mo- introduc- 
ment the battering-ram was thundering at their gates." ^ ^^ — 
=:He then ended his twelve weeks of administrative 
labour by appointing a provisional government, under 
the presidency of his brother Joseph, and, after a night 
spent in the cabinet, left Paris at daybreak. In two days June 12, 
he was at his headquarters with the Grand Army at june'i4. 
Beaumont, and issuing the orders for the advance on the 
morrow which was to open the campaign of Waterloo. 



The armies of the Allies which Napoleon was about Prepara- 
to attack occupied all southern Belgium, and guarded theCam- 
the whole French frontier from the Forest of Ardennes P'^'f!!L_ 
on the east to the seaports on the North Sea, It had so 
happened, as an outgrowth of the doings of the Congress 
at Vienna, that, at the time of Napoleon's return from 
Elba, both British and Prussian troops were in that 
region — the English to occupy the frontier fortresses of 
the newly created Kingdom of the Netherlands until it 
could be fairly organized, and to prevent any disorders 
arising from the strong Galilean sympathies of the 
Flemings and their hatred of the union with Holland 
which had been forced uj)on them ; while Prussia had 
kept a corps of 30,000 men under Gen. Kleist in her 

^ " Bitter words," is Charras's been ready to rally round its chief 
characterization of Napoleon's part- and conquer with him, it would have 
ing address to the Chambers, " but been better to await the enemy at 
not without grandeur." His embar- the foot of Montmartre. But when 
rassments from these legislative ob- interests and opinions were divided 
structions influenced the military and political passions ran high, and 
plans which have been referred to in a factious legislative body was excit- 
note 6, page 8. Jomini, in his Life ing divisions and animosities in the 
of Napoleon, puts into the Emperor's capital, it would have been danger- 
mouth this determining motive for ous there to await an invasion. A 
an offensive campaign : — " If there victory beyond the frontiers would 
had been no political factions in procure me time and silence my po- 
France, and the entire nation had litical enemies in the interior." 



12 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Prepara- in^i acquired provinces along the lower Ehine.^ Wel- 

tions for '^ _ ^ -■■ _ _ o _ 

the Cam- lington lost no time in hastening to the seat of the 

paign. "^ ^ 




[April 4.] coming war and making his headquarters at Brussels ; 

[April 17.] ^i^^ Bllicher, following him, presented himself a fortnight 

later at Liege, and established headquarters at Namur. 



® The partitions of territory made 
by the Congress of Vienna had 
given rise to such jealousies and 
threatenings of war among the con- 
tracting parties that, except France, 
all the Powers had retained their 
armies upon a war footing. Among 
the unfortunate new creations was 
this Kingdom of the Netherlands, 
consisting of Holland and Belgium, 
of which Prince Frederick William 
of Nassau had just been made King 
(March 23, 181 5), and of which 
England, had constituted herself a 
kind of guardian and protector, until 
it should attain years of maturity — 
(which, in fact, it never did, since 



the Flemings only endured the 
Dutch yoke until they were able to 
assert their independence in the Re- 
volution of 1830, when England had 
again to take the leading part in 
creating the Kingdom of Belgium 
and furnishing it with a King in the 
person of Prince Leopold of Saxe- 
Coburg, widower of the Princess 
Charlotte, June, 1831). In the 
spring of 1 8 1 5 the Belgian fortresses 
were held by some 12,000 British 
troops, upon which, as a nucleus, the 
new King of the Netherlands was 
forming an army of his own — the 
entire force being under the command - 
of the heir apparent, the Prince of 



ANGLO-ALLIED POSITION. - 13 

From the direction of their respective bases of supply it Prepara- 
naturally resulted that the Prussians took position along thTcam- 
the easternmost portion of the line to be guarded, the ^^^^"' 
English toward the sea coast ; and thus the point of 
junction between the extreme right of the Prussian 
army and the English left fell nearly where the frontier 
was crossed by the great highway from northern France 
to Brussels, along which I^apoleon designed his advance 
upon that capital. In other words, Bliicher — -assuming, 
and correctly, that Napoleon would never attempt the 
passage of the rugged country of the Ardennes — 
watched the frontier from the western limits of the 
forest and the Eiver Meuse as far west as Binche, be- 
tween Charleroi and Mons ; and the line of observation 
thence to the sea was taken up by Wellington. The 
territory thus occupied by the two armies was 100 
miles from east to west and 40 from south to north, and 
the duties of both were fourfold — (i) Each must pre- 
serve, at its outermost wing, communication with its own 
country and base of supplies ;■ (2) the inner wings must 
communicate with one another, both for mutual sup- 
port and in order to preserve unbroken the long line of 
supplies which England was affording to the armies 
throughout Eastern Europe ; (3) each army must be 
so posted as to be able to concentrate expeditiously at 
any menaced point of invasion ; and (4) close watch 
was to be kept along the whole line of every approach 
by which the invader might come.^ Within the length 

Orange. Tlie Prince, however, placed take liis own messenger, reaching 

himself under the orders of the Duke Brussels on April 4. Here he re- 

of Wellington, who had left Vienna mained, urging upon the English go- 

(March 29), where he was serving vernment the necessary war prepara- 

as England's representative in the tions and making dispositions for the 

Congress, as soon as possible after coming struggle, 
learning of Napoleon's return, and ^ The necessity of this laborious 

travelled at such speed as to over- watchfulness arose from the defen- 



14 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Prepara- 
tions for 
the Cam- 
paign. 



of the frontier several roads led from France to Brussels ; 
and Napoleon, screening his movements behind the 
strong line of frontier fortresses held by the French, 
might emerge suddenly upon any one of these. Wel- 
lington had reasons for apprehending that the French 
would strike first at his right flank — for, beside having 
on his hands the care both of the Kingdom of the 
Netherlands and of the fugitive Bourbon court at Ghent, 
he held it of prime importance to preserve Ostend and 
the communication with England by which his men and 
munitions were arriving ; — and he therefore strengthened 
the field works in that part of his line, and quartered in 
that direction a considerable proportion of the troops 
which were ultimately needed on his extreme left. But 
he did not on that account neglect precautions for con- 
centrating rapidly elsewhere. At the central point of 
Brussels, his headquarters, the Duke held a heavy re- 



sive policy to whicb. Wellington and 
Bluclier were constrained by the 
agreement among the Allies, that no 
forward movement should be made 
until the great masses of troops, now 
widely scattered throughout Europe, 
could be assembled at connecting 
points along the French frontier and 
combined in a concentric movement, 
in overwhelming numbers, upon 
Paris. Wellington, on first taking 
command, entertained ideas of as- 
suming the offensive ; and, as soon 
as Austria had destroyed Murat in 
Italy, he wrote to Schwartzenberg 
(June 2), urging the immediate ad- 
vance of the Army of the Upper 
Rhine, and saying that he was ready, 
aud-Bliicher eager,to begin hostilitiea. 
Before there was time to act on this 
Napoleon made his attack. = The 
Prussian writers on the campaign 
have stated that Bliicher and Wel- 



lington had arranged to invade 
France on July.ist. Oharras quotes 
this assertion by Wagner and Da- 
mitz, to contradict it by letters from 
Wellington to Schwartzenberg (May 
9, June 2) and to the Czar Alexan- 
der (.June 15). "Before commenc- 
ing operations in the North," Gharras 
says, " WeUin>ton and Bliicher were 
to wait until the Russian, Austrian, 
and other armies were advanced to 
such a point in French territory, 
that the Anglo-Prussians could sup- 
port and be supported by them. 
Now, the Russians and Austrians 
were not to commence hostilities 
until July ist." War, it is to be re- 
membered, had not been declared ; 
and the commanders in Belgium had 
received '^ absolute instructions to 
respect the French frontier until the 
signal for hostilities should be given 
by the sovereigns." 



ANGLO- ALLIED POSITION. 1 5 

serve under his own command, while the advanced Prepara- 
corps of his army could be reached by roads radiating the cam- 
thence to their interior points of communication — p**'^^ 
Oudenarde, Grammont, Ath, Enghien, Soignies, Nivelles, 
and Quatre Bras ; — so that, by advancing with his reserve 
to whichever of these might be attacked, and putting his 
other troops in movement, he could assemble two-thirds 
of his entire disposable force within 22 hours at the 
point threatened by the enemy/ In like manner, 
Bllicher — with his headquarters at JSTamur, and the 
points of concentration for his corps at Fleurus, JSTamur, 
Ciney, and Liege — could concentrate each corps at its 
own headquarters within 1 2 hours, or his whole army 
upon any one of them within 24 hours. To concentrate 
the English army on its left and the Prussian on its 
right, that is at their point of junction, would of course 
require a longer time than to assemble either at any 
point within its own line — a feature which no doubt in- 
fluenced Napoleon's plan of the campaign. Beyond 
these general provisions, the commanders had drawn up 
in advance specific instructions for the management of 
each detachment of troops in the event of every move- 
ment of the enemy that could be foreseen. For instance, 
more than a month before the invasion took place, the 
commander of the Prussian corps stationed at the junc- 
tion of the two armies had issued orders to his brigade [May 2.] 
officers how to meet the very attack which afterwards 
was made upon them in the first advance of the French. 
It had moreover been agreed between Welhngton 
and Bllicher that a battle was Hkely to be fought about 
the ground of Quatre Bras or Ligny, and decided that 
in case of necessity they should fall back and reunite 
before the Forest of Soignies ; and accordingly the field 
of Waterloo was mapped out by English officers a week [June 8.] 
before the invasion, and the map was used by the Duke 



1 6 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

the day before the battle to designate the positions the 
brigades and regiments should hold on the morrow. 
Confident in the thoroughness of their dispositions and 
of the vigilance of the outposts that watched for the 
enemy's movement, the Allied commanders determined 
to make no premature change in their arrangements 
until the French mode of attack should be thoroughly 
developed — a policy which, at the time, was attributed 
to their being taken by surjDrise. 

The two armies of the Allies were very differently 
constituted Prussia had on foot at the time war be- 
came imminent a standing army, complete in all arms, 
and near at hand, of which it was only necessary to 
move forward such a part as was needed to support 
Kleist's corps already on the ground. The troops of 
which Bliicher thus found himself at the head varied in 
quality. Kearly half, both infantry and cavalry, were 
Landwehr hastily trained under the new system which 
Scharnhorst had devised when Germany rose against 
French -domination ; and the regular troops comprised 
a large proportion of recruits who filled the great gaps 
made by the campaigns of Germany and France in the 
ranks of the patriot volunteers of 1813. But all were 
of one race and one tongue and under the same disci- 
pline ; and all burned to avenge the wrongs their 
country had endured from the French ; all, moreover, 
had enthusiastic admiration for their leader and confi- 
dence in him. = Wellington, on the contrary, had been 
forced to improvise a fortuitous collection of nonde- 
script organizations that formed, when assembled, what 
he went so far as to call " a villainous army." Before 
leaving Vienna to take command, he had written to 
Lord Castlereagh, urging him to reinforce the army in 
the Netherlands as much as possible, especially in 
cavalry and artillery. On reaching Brussels, he wrote 



THE ARMIES. 



17 



again, describing tlie preparations as most imsatisfac- Prepara- 
tory, — for the troops of the new Kingdom of the thTcam- 
Netherlands were raw levies, wholly inefficient, while ^^' ^°' 
the Belgian portion of them were evidently disaffected, 
and the British infantry sent him consisted largely of 
recruits hastily raised or second battalions collected 
from garrisons, his own Peninsular veterans having 
been for the most part shipped off to America. ^^ " It 
appears to me," wrote the Duke confidentially, " that you 



^° Some notion of the character of 
a portion of the British troops is 
conveyed in the Earl of Albemarle's 
Fifty Years of my Life. At the 
time he received his commission as 
ensign in the 14th regiment, in April, 
1 81 5, the autoMographer tells us, "I 
still wanted two months of sixteen." 
This lad at once went to Belgium 
and to his regiment, which had no 
fewer than 16 ensigns. ''The 3d 
hattalion of the 14th Foot, which I 
now joined," he says, " was one 
which in ordinary times would not 
have been considered fit to be sent 
on foreign service at all, much less 
against an enemy in the field. Four- 
teen of the officers and 300 of the men 
were under twenty years of age. 
These last, consisting principally of 
Buckinghamshire lads fresh from the 
plough, were called at home ' the 
Bucks,' but their Mn-buckish appear- 
ance procured for them the appella- 
tion of ' the Peasants.' " On reach- 
ing Brussels, the Ensign relates, the 
battalion was " inspected by an old 
General of the name of Mackenzie, 
who no sooner set eyes on the corps 
than he caUed out, ' Well, I never 
saw such a set of boys, both officers 
and men.' .... The General 
could not reconcile it to his con- 
science to declare the raw striplings 



fit for active service, and ordered the 
Colonel to march them ofi" the 
ground, and to join a brigade then 
about to proceed to garrison Ant- 
werp. Tidy [the Colonel command- 
ing] would not budge a step. Lord 
Hill happening to pass by, our colo- 
nel called out, ' My lord, were joii 
satisfied with the behaviour of the 
14th at Corunna ? ' 'Of course I 
was ; but why ask the question ? ' 
' Because I am sure your lordship 
will save this fine regiment from the 
disgrace of garrison duty.' Lord Hill 
went to the Duke, who had arrived 
that same day at Brussels, and 
brought him to the window. The 
regiment was afterwards inspected 
by his Grace and their sentence re- 
versed. In the meanwhile a prig- 
gish staff officer, who knew nothing 
of the countermand, said to Tidy in 
mincing tones, ' Sir, jouy brigade is 
waiting for you. Be pleased to 
march off your men.' ' Ay, ay, sir.' 
was the rough reply, and, with a 
look of defiance, my colonel gave the 
significant word of command, ' 14th, 
TO THE FRONT ! Quick march.' 
From henceforth our regiment 
formed part of Lord Hill's corps." 
This body of raw striplings will be 
heard of, later, as doing good service 
at Waterloo. 



1 8 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Prepara- liavG iiot taken a clear view of your situation 

tiTcam- How we are to malie out 150,000 men, or even tlie 

paign^ 60,000 of the defensive part of the Treaty of Cliaumont, 
appears not to have been considered. If you could 
let me have 40,000 good British infantry, besides those 
you insist upon having in garrisons, the proportions 
settled by treaty that you are to furnish of cavalry, that 
is to say the eighth of 150,000, including in both the 
old German Legion, and 150 pieces of British field- 
artillery fully horsed, I should be satisfied and take my 
chance for the rest. ... As it is, we are in a bad way." 

[April 21.] A fortnight later he complained that, instead of 150 
pieces of artillery, he had but 84, of which only 42 
were British, and that even for these, though he was 
authorized to buy horses in Belgium, the government 
furnished no drivers, whom he must supply from the 
infantry, which could by no means afibrd to spare 
them.^^ Perhaps it was for this reason that he never 

1^ Tlie solicitude here expressed porting tliem to tlie shore. The 
by the Duke about his artillery de- English naval officer of the port said 
serves note, both because of the un- that the Duke's orders were peremp- 
der-estimate of its importance which tory to land the troops without de- 
has been attributed to him, and of lay, and send the ships back for 
the sufferings which befell his army more ; so he ordered the sailors to 
• at Quatre Bras and at Waterloo throw horses, saddlery, and harness 
from the French ascendancy in that into the sea, whence the gunners 
arm. = Some illustrations of the ex- fished out at low tide what they 
perieuce of the artillery and of the could secure, and caught the horses, 
curious army management which which had gone oft' in search of 
prevailed under Wellington's com- forage ; and there the troop was left 
mand, are recorded in the Journal unfed and unsheltered through a 
of the Waterloo Campaign which stormy night on a strange sea-coast, 
was kept from day to day by the because no one would take the re- 
English Captain (afterwards Gene- sponsibilityof directing them whither 
ral) Cavalie Mercer, who commanded to go. Captain Mercer, however, 
one of the 6-horse batteries attached got his troop again into its originally 
to the cavalry corps. His battery fine condition, and in one of the in- 
was shipped in April at Harwich, spections of the troops which the 
and reached Ostend to find that no two commanders-in-chief used to 
means had been provided for trans- make, it attracted their attention. 



THE ARMIES. 



19 



brought up from Antwerp three batteries of 1 8 -pounders, Prepara- 
" guns of position," which were sorely needed at La thTcam- 
Haye Sainte. About his staff also the government gave ^^'^°' . 
him equal annoyance, appointing, in the stead of the 
officers whom he had himself educated in the Peninsula, 
novices who were pushed forward by family influence. 
Complaining that certain aids had not been sent him 
whose assistance he had desired, he wrote : " It is quite [Api-n 29.] 
impossible for me to superintend the details of the 
duties of these departments myself, having already more 
to arrange than I am equal to ; and I cannot intrust 
them to the young gentlemen of the staff of this army. 
Indeed, I must say, I do not know how to employ 
them."^'-^ The same redundancy of staff officers pre- 



" Instead of proceeding straight 
through the ranks, as they had done 
everywhere else," says Mercer, "each 
subdivision — nay, each individual 
horse — was closely scrutinised, Blii- 
cher repeating continually that he 
had never seen anything so superb 
in his life, and concluded hy exclaim- 
ing, ' Mein Gott, dere is not von 
orse in dies batterie vich is not goot 
for Veldt Marshal ! ' and Wellington 
agreed with him. However," adds 
Mercer, " except asking Sir George 
Wood whose troop it was, his Grace 
never even bestowed a regard upon 
me as I followed from subdivision to 
subdivision." One more incident 
from Mercer wiU serve to illustrate 
at once the Duke's irrational preju- 
dice against all innovation and the 
effectual means he took of repelling 
that personal affection which both 
Bliicher and Napoleon won from 
their officers and men: — '' Captain 
Whinyates having joined the army 
with the rocket troop, the Duke, 
who looked upon rockets as nonsense, 
ordered that they should be put into 



store, and the troops supplied with 
guns instead. Colonel Sir G. Wood, 
instigated by Whinyates, called on 
the Duke to ask permission to leave 
him his rockets as well as guns. A 
refusal. Sir George, however, seeing 
the Duke was in a particularly good 
humoui', ventured to say, ' It will 
break poor Whinyates' heart to lose 
his rockets.' ' Damn his heart, sir ! 
let my orders be obeyed,' was the 
answer thundered in his ear by the 
Duke, as he turned on the worthy 
Sir George." In some way not re- 
corded, a compromise must have 
been effected, for Sir Augustus 
Frazer, commander of the British 
horse-artillery, wrote, in a letter 
dated Brussels, May 5 : " Major 
Whinyates' rocket troop has received 
guns instead of the arm a la Congi-eve, 
of which it retains 800." This resi- 
due, as will be seen in the sequel, did 
good service at Waterloo. 

'^'^ A little later, the Duke wrote 
(May 8) to the same effect to Lord 
Stewart ; — " I have got an infamous 
army, very weak and ill-equipped ; 



c 2 



20 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



vailed even more unfortunately among the troops of 
the several Contmental states represented in Welhng- 
ton's motley array — Hanoverians, Brunswickers, Nas- 
sauers, Dutch-Belgians, — each of which insisted upon 
maintaining its own regimental organization and serving 
only under its own officers, while the tactics of each 
differed from those of the others. Thus the Duke led 
in reality no compact army, but a coalition of hetero- 
geneous forces. One-third only of these were British, of 
whom many now saw their first campaign ; the King's 
German Legion were hardened Peninsular veterans ; 
and the Brunswickers, led by their Duke, were expected 
to acquit themselves well ; but the remainder consisted 
of recruits not fitted for the field, and of the Nassau 
and Dutch-Belgian troops, in whose fidelity to the 
Allied cause no confidence could be placed. Such was 
the composition of what Wellington terms " the worst 
army ever brought together ; " yet it contained regi- 
ments and brigades of which he wrote, after Waterloo, 
^ I never saw the British infantry behave so well." 

The strength of the three armies, in their several 
arms, at the opening of the campaign, was as follows : — ^^ 



Infantry- 
Cavalry 
Artillery 
Engineers, train, etc. 

Total 

Guns .... 


Anglo-AUied 
Army 


Prussians 


Total Allies 


French 


82,062 

14,482 

8,166 

1,240 


99.715 

11,879 

5,303 


181,777 
26,361 

13,469 
1,240 


84,235 

21,665 

10,901 

5,600 


105,950 


116,897 


222,847 


122,401 


196 312 


508 


350 



and a very inexperienced staff. In 
my opinion they are doing nothing 
in England. Tbej^ have not raised a 
man ; they have not called out the 
militia either in England or Ireland ; 
are unable to send me anything ; and 



they have not sent a message to Par- 
liament about the money. The war 
spirit has therefore evaporated, as 
I am informed." 

^^ The foUowiug details of the 
effective strength and composition of 



THE ARmES. 21 



The force wliicli Napoleon led was composed of the Prepara- 
flower of the French army. One-third of it was made tiiTcam- 



paign. 



each of the three armies are taken of the corps and their commanders 

from Siborne's History of the War in will serve for reference during the 

France and Belgiimi in 1815, Appen- remainder of the narrative. 
dixes VI, VIII, and IX. The lists 

ANGLO-ALLIED AEMY. 
FIELD MAESHAL THE DUKE OP WELLINGTON. 

1ST Corps — The Prince of Orange. 

Men 
1st Division — Maj. Gen. Cooke 

1st British Brigade . Maj. Gen. Maitland . . 1,997 ) .Qg, 
2d „ „ . Maj. Gen. Sir John Byng . 2,064)' ^' 

Artillery . . . Lt. Col. Adye 

3^ Division — Lt. Gen. Coiint Alten 

5th British Brigade . Maj. Gen. Sir Colin Halkett . 2,254 \ 
2d Brigade King's Ger- ( g 

man Legion . . Col. von Ompteda . . . 1,527 |' '^' 
1st Hanoverian Brigade Maj. Gen. Count Kielmansegge 3,189 j 
Artillery . . . Lt. Col. Williamson 

2d Dutch- Belgian Division — Lt. Gen, Baron de Perponcher 

I St Brigade . . . Maj. Gen. Count de Bylandt . 3,233] 

2d „ . . . H.S.H. Prince Bernhard of V 7,533 

Saxe-Weimar . . . 4,300] 
Artillery . . , Maj. von Opstal 

"^d Dutch-Belgian Division — Lt. Gen. Baron Chasse 

1st Brigade . . . Maj. Gen. Ditmers . . 3,088 \ ^ gg 

2d „ . . . Maj. Gen. dAubreme . . 3,581 ) ' ^ 
Artillery , . . Maj. van der Smissen 

Total 1st Corps, guns 48, men 25,233 

2D Corps— Lt. Gen. Lord Hill. 

2d Division— U. Gen. Sir H. Clinton 

3d British Brigade . Maj. Gen. Adam . . . 2,625^1 
1st Brigade King's Ger- I g 0,., 

man Legion . . CoL du Plat .... 1,758 [ ' ^^ 

3d Hanoverian Brigade Col. Hew Halkett . . . 2,454; 
Artillery . . . Lt. Col. Gold 

^th Division — Lt. Gen. Sir Charles Colville 

4th British Brigade . Col. Mitchell . . . .1,767) 
6th „ „ . Maj. Gen. Johnstone . . 2,396 ^ 7,212 

6th Hanoverian Brigade Maj. Gen. Sir James Lyon . 3,049] 
Artillery . . . Lt. Col. Hawker 

1st Dutch-Belgian Division — Lt. Gen. Stedmann 

1st Brigade . . . Maj. Gen. Hauw . . . • \ 6 'iSQ 
2d „ . . .Maj. Gen. Berens . . . . J '•' ^ 
Artillery 

Dutch-Belgian Indian 

Brigade . . . Lt. Gen. Anthing .... 3,5^3 
Detachments, etc. 16 

Total 2d Corps, guns 40, men 24,033 



22 



QUATRE BRXS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Prepara- 
tions for 
the Cam- 

paig'ti. 



up of what M. Thiers called " the novices of 1813 and 
1 8 14" — soldiers, that is, who had gone through the 



Reserve. 



Men 



2,471) 
2,173 [ 
2,514) 



^tJi Division — Lt. G-en. Sir Thomas Picton 

8th British Brigade . Maj. G-en. Sir James Kempt 
9th „ „ . Maj. G-en. Sir Dennis Pack 

5th Hanoverian Brigade Col. von Vincke 
Artillery . , . Maj. Heisse 

6th Division— Jjt. Gen. Hon. Sir L. Cole 

loth British Brigade . Maj. Gen. Sir John Lambert . 2,567 1 
4th Hanoverian Brigade Col. Best .... 2,582) 
Artillery . . . Lt. Col. Bruckmann 
British Reserve Ar- 
tillery . . . Maj. Drummond 

Till Division 

7th British Brigade . . . . . . 

British Garrison troops 

Brmismicli Corps — H.S.H. the Duke of Brunswick 
Advanced Guard . . Maj. von Rauschenplat . 
Light Brigade . . Lt. Col. von Buttler 
Line „ . . Lt. Col. von Specht 

Artillery . . . Maj. Mahn 

Hanoverian Reserve Cordis — Lt. Gen. von der Decken 
1st Brigade . . . Lt. Col. von Benningsen 
2d „ . . . Lt. Col. von Beaulieu 
3d „ . . . Lt. Col. von Bodekin 
4th „ . . . Lt. Col. von Wissel . 

Nassau Contingent — Gen. von Kruse 



7,158 



5,149 



1,216 
2,017 



672) 
2,688 5,376 

2,Ol6l 



9,000 

2,880 



Total Reserve, guns 64, men 32,796 



Cavalry — Lt. Gen. the Earl op Uxbridge. 

British and King's German Legion 

1st (Household) Brigade Maj. Gen. Lord E. Somerset 

2d (Union) „ Maj. Gen. Sir W. Ponsonby 

3d Brigade . . . Maj. Gen. Sir W. Dornberg 



4th 
5th 
6th 
7th 

6 British hor 

Sanoverian 

1st Brigade . 

Brunswick Cavalry 

Dutch-Belgian 
1st Brigade . 
2d „ . . 

3'3 » ■ ■ . 
Artillery 



Maj. Gen. Sir J. Vandeleur . 
Maj. Gen. Sir C. Grant . 
Maj. Gen. Sir H. Vivian 
Col. Sir F. von. Arentsschildt 
se batteries attached to the Cavalry 

Col. von BstorfE . 



Maj. Gen. Trip 
Maj. Gen. de Chigney 
Maj. Gen. van Merlen 



i,286\ 

1,181 

1,268 

1,171}- 

1,336 

1,279 

1,012/ 



1,682) 
922 1 



1,237) 

1,086 I 
1,082] 



8,473 



2,604 



3.405 



Total Cavalry, guns 44, men 14,482 



THE AEI^HES. 



23 



tremendous campaigns of Germany and France, — while Prepara- 

the two-thirds were veterans, for the most part returned thTcam- 

from Eussian and German prisons. Napoleon had com- ^^^'f^. 
manded larger armies before, but never one of such 











Men 


Bntislh 


. 10 foot batteries, 


guns '54, men ^,630 ) 






8 horse 






48 1,400/ 


5,030 


Mng's German Legion 


. I foot 
2 horse 






12 ; 


526 


Hanoverian 


. 2 foot 






12 


465 


Bi'v/nswicTi , 


. I ), 






0000 






I horse 






510 


BiitoTi- Belgian . 


. 4 foot 
2 „ 






32 968 , 
16 667 1 


1,635 




Total Artillery, 


guns 196, men 


8,166 


Engineers, Sappers 


and Miners, 


Waggon Train, Staff Corps 


1,240 



Grand total, guns 196, men 105,950 



SUMMAEY. 



British .... 

King's German Legion 

Hanoverian 

Brunswick .... 

Nassau .... 

Dutch- Belgian . 


Infantry 


Cavalry 


Artillery 


Guns 


Engineers 
etc. 


23,543 
3,301 

22,788 
5,376 
2,880 

24,174 


5,913 

2,560 

1,682 

922 

3,405 


5,030 
526 
465 
510 

1,635 


102 
18 
12 
16 

48 


1,240 


Total. . . . 82,062 : 14,482 


8,166 


196 


1,240 



PEUSSIAN ARMY. 

FIELD MAESHAL PEINCE BLTJCHEE VON WAHLSTADT. 



1ST CoEPS — Lt. Gen. von Zieten 



1st Brigade . 
2d 

3d » 
4tli „ 

Eeserve Cavalry 
Brigade of 

fi ,) 
Reserve Artillery 
8 foot batteries 
I howitzer „ 
3 horse , 



Gen. von Steinmetz 
Gen. von Pu-ch II. . 
Gen. von Jagow 
Gen. von Henkel . 
Lt. Gen. von Roder 
Gen. von Treskow 
Lt. Col. Liitzow . 
Col. von Lehmann 



Total 1st Corps, guns 



Men 
. 8,647) 

• 4,72iJ 

; ; } 1,925 
1,019 



24 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Prepara- 
tions for 
the Cam- 
paign. 



supremely fine material. Fervently devoted to their 
Emperor, with the highest creed of mihtary loyalty, 



2D Corps -Gen. von Pirch I. 



5th Brigade . 
6th 
7th 
8th 

Eeserve Cavalry 
Brigade of 



Eeserve Artillery 
7 foot batteries 
3 horse „ 



Gen. von Tippelskirchen 
Gen. von KrafEt 
Gen. von Brause 
Col. von Langen 
Gen. von Jiirgass 

Col. von Thiimen . 

Col. Count Schulenburg 

Col von Sohr 
Col. von Eohl 



Men 

6,851) 

6,292 j 



4,468 



1,454 



Total 2d Corps, guns 80, men 31,758 



3B Corps— Lt. Gen. von Thielmann. 



9th Brigade 
loth „ 
nth „ 
12th „ 
Eeserve Cavalry 
Brigade of 

» j> 

Eeserve Artillery 
3 foot batteries 
3 horse „ 



Gen. von Borcke . 

Col. von Kiimpfen . 

Col. von Luck 

Col. von Stiilpnagel 

Gen. von Hobe 

Col. von der Marwitz 
Col. Count Lottum 

Col. von Mohnhaupt 



• 6,752) 

•4'2t5 20,611 

• 3,634 

. 6,180 j 



2,40s 
964 



Total 3d Corps, guns 48, men 23,980 



4TH Corps— Gen. Count Bulow von Dennewitz. 



13th Brigade 
14th ,, 

I5tli „ 
1 6th 

Eeserve Cavalry 
Bris-ade of 



Eeserve Artillery 
8 foot batteries 
3 horse „ 



Lt. Gen. von Hacke . . 6,385 
Gen. von Eyssel . . .6,953 
Gen. von Losthin . „ . 5,881 
Col. von Hiller . . .6,162 
Gen. Prince William of Prussia 

Gen. von Sydow .... 

Col. Count Schwerin . 

Lt. Col. von Watzdorf . 
Lt. Col. von Bardeleben 



Total 4th Corps, guns 88, men 
Grand total, guns 312, men 

Summary. 



25,381 

I 3,081 

} 1,866 

30,328 
116,897 



1st Corps d'Armee .... 
2d „ „ . . . . 
3d „ 
4th „ „ . . . . 


Infantry 


Cavalry j Artillery 


G-uns 


27,817 
25,836 
20,611 
25,381 


1,925 1,019 
4,468 1,454 
2,405 1 964 
3,081 1,866 


96 

80 
48 
88 


Total 


99,715 11,879 


5-303 


-•12 ' 



THE ARMIES. 



25 



filled with an absolutely infuriated hatred of their foes, 
and confident in their own invincibility, the Grrand Army 



Imperial Guaed- 



FEENCH ARMY. 
the empeeor napoleon. 
-Maeshal Moetiee. 



Prepara- 
tions for 
the Cam- 
paign. 



Old Guard . 

Middle Guard 

Young Guard 

1st Cavalry Division 

2d „ „ 

Artillery 



Lt. Gen. Friant 

Lt. Gen. Morand 

Lt. Gen. Duhesme . 

Gen. Guyot 

Gen. Lefebvre-Desnouettes 

Gen Devaux . 



Men 
4,000 
4,000 
4,000 
2,000 
2,000 
2,400 



Total Guard, guns 96, men 18,400 



1ST Corps — Lt. Gen. Count D'Erlon. 
1st Division . . . Gen. Alix 



2d „ 

3d „ 

4th „ 

1st Cavalry Division 

Artillery 



Gen. Donzelot. 
Gen. Marcognet 
Gen. Durutte . 
Lt. Gen. Jaquinot 



Total 1st Corps, guns 46, men 
2D Corps— Lt. Gen. Count Eeille. 

5th Division . . . Gen. Bachelu . 

. Prince Jerome Napoleon 

. Gen. Girard 

. Gen. Foy 

. Lt. Gen. Pire . . . 



6th 

7th „ 

9tli 

2d Cavalry Division 

Artillery 



3D Corps — Lt. Gen. Count Vandamme. 
loth Division . . . Gen. Hubert 



nth „ 

8th „ 

3d Cavalry Division 
Artillery 



Gen Barthez^ne 

Gen. Lefol 

Lt. Gen. Domont 



17,600 



1,400 
i>564 

20,564 



19,435 

1,865 
1,861 



Total 2d Corps, guns 46, men 23,161 



13,200 

1,400 
1,292 





Total 3d Corps, guns 38, men 15,892 


4TH Corps— Lt. Gen. Count Geraed. 

1 2th Division . . . Lt. Gen. Pecheux . . . . \ 

13th „ ... Lt. Gen. Vichery . . . . i 12,100 

14th „ ... Gen. Hulot j 

6th Cavalry Division . . Lt. Gen. Morin .... 1,400 
Artillery 1,292 




Total 4th Corps, guns 38, men 14,792 


6th Corps— Lt. Gen. Count Lobau. 

19th Division . . ' . Lt. Gen. Simmer . . . . \ 
20th „ ... Lt. Gen. Jeannin . . . , I 9,900 
2ist „ ... Lt. Gen. Teste . . . . j 
Artillery 1,292 



Total 6th Corps, guns 38, men 11,192 



26 



QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



was beyond doubt the most formidable band of warriors 
that had ever moved into the field. ^^ 



Keseevb Cavalry — Marshal 

1st Corps . . . . 
4th Cavalry Division . 
5tli ,, » 

Artillery 

2d Cor^js .... 
9th Cavalry Division . 
loth „ „ 

Artillery 

2,d Corps . . . . 
nth Cavalry Division . 
I 2th „ „ 

Artillery 

^th Corps 

13th Cavalry Division 
14th „ „ 

Artillery 



Grouchy. 

Men 
Lt. Gen. Pajol 

Lt. Gen. Soult . , . • \ c;oo 

Lt. Gen. Subervie . . . i '^ 

300 

Lt. Gen. Bxcelmans 

Lt. Gen. Strolz . . . • ) -, ton 

Lt. Gen. Chastel . . . . J ^'^°" 

300 

Lt. Gen. Kellermann 

Lt. Gen. L'Heritier . . • I -j ■jno 

Lt. Gen. Roussel . . . . f ^'^ 

..... 300 

Lt. Gen. Count Milhaud 

Lt. Gen. Wathier . . • 1 , ,rin 

Lt. Gen. Delort . . . . I 3'300 

300 

Total Eeserve Cavalry, guns 48, men 12,800 
Grand total . . guns 350, men 122,401 



Summary. 



Imperial Guard . 


Infantry 


Cavalry 


Artillery 


Giuas 




12,000 


4,000 


2,400 


96 


ist Corps d'Armee 


17,600 


1,400 


1,564 


46 




2d „ „ . . 


19,435 


1,865 


1,861 


46 




3d „ ,. . • 


13,200 


1,400 


1,292 


38 




4th „ „ . . 


12,100 


1,400 


1,292 


38 




6th „ „ . . 


9,900 


— 


1,292 


38 




Eeserve Cavalry 


— 


11,600 


1,200 


48 




Waggon-train, Engineers, 












etc. .... 


— 


— 


— 


— 


5,600 


Total 


84,235 


21,665 


10,901 


350 


5,600 


Charras' figures differ, but 


not very 


widely, 


from Sib 


jrne's, gii 


j\u^ the 


following totals 


1 89,415 1 


22,302 


12,371 


344 


3,500 



^* Oharras says that the youngest 
of these troops had seen service since 
the early days of 18 13, and formed 
the greater part of the army: the 
others had had from three to ten or 
twelve years' service. But he points 
out the following elements of weak- 
ness : — " The formation of the bri- 
di visions, and corps d\irmee 



was of only two months' standing-. 
The regiments had not the cohesive 
force and the unity which troops only 
acquire by prolonged community of 
work in time of peace, or, still better, 
from the perils of war. In June of 
the previous year they had under- 
gone a complete reorganization ; in 
December there bad been amalga- 



NAPOLEON'S PLAN. 2"] 

Napoleon's plan for the campaign was to advance as Prepara- 
unexpectedly as possible upon the direct road through thTcam- 
Charleroi to Brussels — the road which passed between ^^'^°' 
Welhngton's and Blllcher's armies ; — to overwhelm the 
nearest enemy, the Prussians, and then to fall upon the 
Anglo- Alhed army before it could assemble in strength ; 
to drive the two asunder and destroy them in detail ; 
to take Brussels, summon the Belgians to his support, 
and reannex the country to the Empire, with the 
boundary of the Ehine ; to awaken the small German 
states to movements in his favour ; to disconcert the 
projected advance of Eastern Europe upon France, or, 
uniting his Grand Army with his own nearest corps, the 
Army of the Ehine, to assail the approaching invaders 
both in front and flank ; to restore confidence in the 
Empire throughout France ; to force the Alhes to open 
negotiations ; perhaps to cause a change of ministry in 
England — at all events, to gain the time, which was of 
vital importance to him, for calling out the full military 
strength of France. That his blow might be dealt sud- 
denly, Napoleon veiled the movements of his columns 
behind the chain of frontier fortresses in his hands, 

mated with them a mass of men re- who were skilled, in their addresses 
called from leave or returned from and proclamations and orders of the 
the prisons of the enemy ; in April day, iii wronging the deposed master 
and May a new amalgamation had and adoring the master in the as- 
taken place ; and the changes had cendant — they could not believe in 
been very numerous also among the their fidelity to the Imperial flag, 
staif of officers. Chiefs, ofiicers, sub- They suspected them of meditating 
officers, soldiers, had not yet acquired some grand treason ; and these vague 
thorough knowledge of one another. but persistent suspicions agitated and 
. . . The soldier had unbounded con- pervaded the high regions of the 
fidence in Napoleon — but not for general stafl', as well as the lesser 
most of his chiefs. These men whom grades where obscure officers served 
he had seen, time after time, in less — the former coming from the mili- 
than a year, pass with equal enthu- tary household of Louis XVIII, the 
siasm from the Emperor to the others lately the objects of the most 
Bourbons and the Bourbons to the inconsiderable royal favour." 
Emperor ; these courtesans of fortune 



28 QUATRE BRAS, HGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

while, to mislead the enemy as to the direction of their 
concentration, the forces of Rational Guards who lined 
the entire frontier were strengthened, and the outposts 
tripled toward the west, thus confirming Wellington's 
belief that the advance would be upon his right and 
deterring him from a closer junction with Bliicher. 
Charleroi was the point designated for crossing the 
river Sambre and taking the highroad to Brussels, only 
34 miles distant ; Solre, Beaumont, and Philippe ville, 
back of Charleroi and just within the French frontier, 
were the starting points for the three columns into 
which the French Army was divided. The march of 
the several corps from various quarters in the rear was 
so well timed that all reached their destinations at 
almost the same hour, excepting only the corps of 
Gerard, which was delayed. Next day the columns 
bivouacked at the places whence they were to begin 
their advance — the left (consisting of D'Erlon's and 
Eeille's corps) at Solre ; the centre (Vandamme's and 
Lobau's corps, the Imperial Guard, and the reserve 
cavalry) at Beaumont, the headquarters ; the right 
(Gerard's corps, with a division of cavalry) at Philippe- 
ville. Thus, believing the enemy ignorant of their 
approach, and sheltering their camp fires behind hill- 
ocks, that their presence might not be disclosed, the 
French passed the last night before the opening of the 
war ; for Napoleon had issued his orders for the ad- 
vance of the whole army at 3 o'clock the next morning. 
The Allies, however, were not taken wholly by sur- 
prise. Both sides were in possession of abundant secret 
intelligence, which enabled each to calculate very nearly 
correctly the real strength of the other, and to a certain 
extent the state of his preparations and his designs ; ^^ 

'^ Oliarras found, in the course the Hague, an illustration of the 
of his researches in the War OfSce at Allies' thoroug-h information as to the 



EVE OF THE CAMPAIGN. 29 

and there had for several days been warnings that the Prepara- 
blow was about to fall, as well as assurances that the the"cam- 
French would not move before July ist. Aside from ^'"i^ 



the spies, distinct notice had been sent Wellington from [J"°e 12, 
his outposts before Tournay that the enemy was mus- 
tering in force ; and Zieten, the Prussian corps com- 
mander near Charleroi, sent him warning of the gather- June 14. 
ing of the two great camps at Solre and Beaumont, 
betrayed by their camp fires on the first night of the 
French assembling. "On the i3tli and 14th," wi^ote 
Baron Muffling, who was constantly with Wellington at 
headquarters, " it was positively known that the enemy 
was concentrating in tlie neighbourhood of Maubeuge. 
The Duke of Wellington did not deem it expedient to 
make any alteration in his position until the enemy 
should further develop his mode of attack, as from 
Maubeuge it might be either upon Mons, Binche, and 
Nivelles, or upon Charleroi." So, on the night of June 
14th, in the words of Chesney, we find "the English, 
save only their reticent chief and a few trusted officers, 
resting unconscious of the gathering storm before 
them."^^=The Prussians were less quiescent. Gen. 

enemy's strength. This was a note, who brings them, and upon whose 
dated Ghent, June 10, from Clarke, sentiments we can rely." 
Duke of Feltre, Louis XVIII's War ^^ It was the fashion of the 
Minister, to Gen. Constant de Re- earlier English writers upon Water- 
becque, chief of staif to the Prince loo — Scott, Lockhart, Alison, for 
of Orange. It gave in detail the example — to explain Wellington's 
strength of the Imperial Guard and inaction by his reliance for informa- 
of the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 6th tion upon the ubiquitous Fouche. 
corps of the French army, and made That accomplished liar gives the 
their aggregate 120,000 men (see storyin his own itfemoirs as foUows: — 
note 1 3, page 26). Clarke wrote : " My agents with Metternich and 
" The person who sends me these Lord Wellington had promised mar- 
details, and who is instructed and vels and momitains : the English ge- 
perfectly sure, fearing to be compro- neralissimo expected that I should 
mised, has not been willing to give at the least give him the plan of the 
them in writing. They have been campaign. I knew for certain that 
contided to the memory of the officer the unforeseen attack would take 



30 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Zieten had warned Bllicher, at the same tnne that he did 
Welhngton, of the enemy's approach. BUicher at once 
(ii P.M.) sent out orders to his cor|)S commanders 
to concentrate in the direction of Fleurus — Billow to 



place ou tlie i6tli or iStli at latest. 
Napoleon intended to give battle on 
tlie 1 7tli to the English army, after 
having marched right over the Prus- 
sians on the preceding day. He 
had the more reason to trust to the 
success of that plan, that Wellington, 
deceived by false reports, believed 
the opening of the campaign might 
be deferred till the beginning of 
July. The success of Napoleon, 
therefore, depended on a surprise, 
and I arranged my plans in con- 
formity. On the very day of the 
departure of Napoleon I despatched 

Madame D , furnished Yfiih notes 

written in cipher containing the 
vrhole plan of the campaign. But 
at the same time I privately des- 
patched orders for such obstacles at 
the frontier, where she was to pass, 
that she could not arrive at the 
headquarters of Wellington till after 
the event. This was the real ex- 
planation of the inconceivable secu- 
rity of the generalissimo, which at 
the time excited such universal as- 
tonishment." This story has been con- 
tradicted on Wellington's behalf by 
his near friend, Lord EUesmere, who 
denied that he at any time put con- 
fidence in Fouche ; and it is entirely 
ignored by the school of writers — 
such as Siborne and Gleig — whose 
adulation of the Duke of Wellington 
amounts to a conviction of his infalli- 
bilit}^, and who in this case applaud 
his refusal to act " prematurely." 
But more judicious critics, though 
his admirers, censure his delay. Sir 
J. Shaw Kennedy, who was ou 



Wellington's staff, writes in his JVoies 
on Waterloo : " They were not sur- 
prised, they knew of the movements 
of the French quite in time to have 
enabled them to assemble their 
armies before Napoleon passed the 
frontier. They acted on a different 
principle, and determined to continue 
in their cantonments until they knew 
positively the line of attack. It may 
safely be predicted that this determi- 
nation will be considered by future 
and dispassionate historians as a 
great mistake, for in place of waiting 
to see where the blow actually fell, 
the armies should have been instantly 
put in motion to assemble." Baron 
Muffling, also a friendly critic, says : 
" If the Duke had left Brussels on the 
14th, at nine o'clock ou the 15th he 
would have heard the cannonade. 
In that case Napoleon would have 
fallen into the Caudine forks on the 
i6th." = Baron Muffling, it should be 
explained, was the Prussian Military 
Commissioner with Wellington's 
army, and served as the medium of 
confidential communication between 
the Allied Marshals and their staffs ; 
so that no one could surpass him in 
knowledge of the course of events, as 
the Prussian corps and brigade com- 
manders were instructed to fm'nish 
him, for the information of the Duke, 
with the same reports of the enemy's 
movements that they sent to Bliicher. 
The English were similarly repre- 
sented in Bliicher's staff" by Col. Sir 
Henry Hardinge, afterwards Gen. 
Lord Viscount Hardinge. 



NAPOLEON'S HEALTH. 3 1 

march from Liege to Hamiut ; Pircli, from Namur to Piepara- 
Sombreffe ; Thielmann, from Ciney to Namur. Zieteii t'hTcIm- 
was to await the advance of the French upon the ^'''^' °"' 
Sambre, and, if compelled by superior numbers, to '^^^ ^'^' 
retreat as slowly as possible upon Fleurus and the three 
other corps there assembled. Zieten's dispositions had 
already been made to meet precisely the attack now 
threatened, and he awaited it without any alterations,^' 



[Note on Napoleon's health. — The subject of Napoleon's JJ^fi^Jf '''''' 

health, bodily and mental, seems never to have received the 

attention due to it as a determining factor in the problem of this 
campaign. If it can be established that he was then labouring 
under the recurrence of a malady which temporarily incapaci- 
tated him — at times almost wholly — from physical or mental 
exertion, then we shall have an adequate solution of incidents 
which his most competent critics — Jomini, for instance — have 
felt themselves compelled to dismiss as " inexplicable " and as 
wholly irreconcilable with his known methods of warfare. 

Why this very simple explanation of the fast-accumulating 
shortcomings in the conduct of this magnificently conceived 
enterprise should have been generally overlooked by the dis- 
putants of both parties is plain enough. Those who tell the 
story from the French side have taken their text from Napoleon 
himself, who — even if he realized in what condition he had 
been — was constitutionally incapable of admitting that his 
miscarriage was due to any want of power in himself. Thiers, 
and the Napoleonists in general, have followed the example of 
their master in assigning the cause of his misfortune to a 
malignant destiny, to combinations of events which it passed 
the power of man to control — such as the elements, — or to 
derelictions of his lieutenants, rather than admit that Napoleon 
was wanting to himself. 

English writers, on the other hand, have been as unre- 

" '♦ An order of Zieten's," .says could he foreseen ; and it is exact 

Charras, " dated May 2d, had laid to. say that their manceuvres on 

down the movements for his troops June 15th were the application of 

in the different cases of attack that this order," 



32 QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

servedly the adulators of Wellington as the French of Napoleon. 
A theory that their hero triumphed over, not the great captain 
who had subjugated Europe, but an enfeebled and failing Na- 
poleon, was one which they could not patiently entertain, or 
would examine only to repudiate it with contempt. 

Besides, it is only since the standard histories of these 
events were written— even since Charras distinctly indicated 
the cause, but without substantiating it by proofs, — that the 
evidences of Napoleon's temporary suspense of power have been 
adduced from sources which are not to be questioned. 

Chesney — who is one of the most honest and dispassionate, 
as he is certainly the ablest of the English critics of this cam- 
paign — has undertaken to pronounce judicially upon this point, 
and has declared the view taken by his countrymen. He says : 
" Certain French writers, among whom it is painful to number 
Charras, are disposed to impute a large share of theix country's 
disaster to some supposed falling off of the physical energy 
and mental powers of the Emperor." Chesney offers to refute 
this by alleging that " his [Napoleon's] warlike capacity had 
never been more splendidly displayed than during that part of 
the struggle with the Allies of the spring of 1814 known as 
the Week of Victories. The Greneral of Areola and Eivoli," he 
continues, " was not more full of resource, nor more sudden 
and deadly in his strokes, than he of Montmirail and Champ- 
aubert." Chesney then refers approvingly to a note in Thiers' 
Consulate and Empire, in which, as he declares, the French 
historian has " sufficiently shown that he [Napoleon] was physi- 
cally capable of fully bearing the fatigues incident to a bold 
aggressive campaign." 

Thiers' statements in the note referred to are as follows : — 
" Contemporary testimonies as to Napoleon's health during these 
four days are very contradictory. His brother, Prince Jerome, 
and a surgeon attached to his staff, both assured me that Na- 
poleon was suffering at that time from an affection of the 
bladder. M. Marchand, attached to his personal service, a man 
whose veracity cannot be doubted, assured me of the contrary. 
. . . Whatever may have been the state of Napoleon's health 
at this period, it did not in any way interfere with his activity, 
as may be seen from what follows. I have verified the account 



NAPOLEON'S HEALTH. 33 

of his movements by numerous and authentic witnesses, among ^ote : 
whom the principal was Gren. Grudin. . . . Gen. Gudin was at Napoleon's 

, ^ ^ health. 

that time seventeen years of age, and, as first page, brought 

his horse to the Emperor. He did not leave Napoleon for a 
moment, and the correctness of his memory, as well as his 
truthfulness of character, justify me in placing implicit confi- 
dence in his assertions." As Gudin will presently be cited in a 
very different sense, this testimony of Thiers to his trustworthi- 
ness is noteworthy. 

The statement of Charras to which Chesney takes exception 
is this : — " Napoleon was old before his time {vieux avant Vage). 
Long exercise of absolute power, the prolonged efforts of 
boundless ambition, excessive labours in the cabinet and in 
war, the emotions and angmsh of three years of unheard-of 
disasters, the sudden fall of that Empire which he had deemed 
established for ever, the hateful idleness of exile, a twofold 
malady whose attacks became more frequent and more aggra- 
vated, had radically altered his vigorous organisation. — His eye 
flashed with the same brilliancy ; his gaze had the same power; 
but his heavy, almost obese, body, his swollen and pendant 
cheeks, indicated the arrival of that Lime of life when a man's 
physical decline has commenced. He submitted now to the 
demands of sleep, which he had lately mastered at his will. 
The fatigue of long journeys on horseback or of rapid riding 
had become insupportable to him. — He preserved the same 
facility, the same abundance, the same force of conception ; 
but he had lost perseverance in elaborating thought, and, what 
was worse, promptness and fixity of resolution. Like certain 
men in the decline of age, he loved to talk, to expatiate, and 
he wasted long hours in barren words. He hesitated a long 
time in taking a resolve ; having taken it, he hesitated to act ; 
and in the action itself he hesitated again. Of his old-time 
tenacity he retained only a frequent and already very mournful 
obstinacy in seeing things, not as they were, but as he thought 
it to his interest they should be. Under repeated blows of 
defeat, his spirit had become broken. He had no longer that 
confidence in himself which is an almost indispensable element 
in the success of grand enterprises : he even doubted his for- 
tune, which, for fifteen years, had lavished such prodigious 

D 



34 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Note: favours on the General, the Consul, the Emperor. 'He e^en 

wJitif°°'^ felt' — it is himself who avows it — 'an abatement of spirit: 

he had the instinct of an unpropitious issue.' " 

Chesney's repudiation of Charras' view was published in 
1 868, Had he been aware of facts subsequently made known 
— in the Histoire et Memoires of the Count de Segur, pub- 
lished in 1873, ^^^ t'^6 narrative of Gren. Gudin, upon whom 
Thiers relies, which is printed in the Earl of Albemarle's Fifty 
Years of my Life, published in 1 876, — he could scarcely have 
gainsaid the accuracy of Charras' summary of Napoleon's 
physical and moral condition. An article in the London 
Quarterly Revieiu (July, 1875) embodies this information on the 
subject, a propos of the disclosures in Segur's Mmnoires : — 
" Before the end of 18 10, when he was in his forty-second year, 
he had contracted an inconvenient degree of embonpoint, and 
he told M. de Segur's father that he could not ride the shortest 
distance without fatigue. Nor was this the worst. He was 
obliged to be constantly on his guard against, a painful malady, 
an access of which might prostrate him at any moment when 
he required the unimpaired energies of both mind and body. 
There were four or five occasions on which the destinies of the 
Empire, of the world, were more or less influenced by this com- 
plaint. [The reviewer then quotes as follows from Segur] : — ' It 
is certain that at Schonbrunn, shortly after the great efforts of 
Essling and Wagram, towards the end of July, a malady that 
has remained mysterious suddenly attacked him. The most 
intimate of his chief officers knew its nature and have kept it 
secret. The others are still ignorant of it; but the entire 
sequestration of the Emperor during eight days, mysterious 
conferences between Murat, Berthier, and Duroc, their evident 
anxiety, and their prompt summons of Corvisart and the prin- 
cipal physicians of Vienna, all proves that serious alarm pre- 
vailed at the Imperial headquarters.'" The reviewer then 
relates, on Segur's authority, how, "at Borodino, Ney, Davoust, 
and Murat called simultaneously for the Young Guard. ' Let 
it only show itself, let it only follow in support, and we answer 
for the rest.' Their messenger, Belliard, returned in alarm and 
haste to announce the impossibility of obtaining the reserve 
from the Emperor, whom he had found at the same place, with 



NAPOLEON'S HEALTH. 35 

an air of pain and depression, a dull drowsy look, the features Note : 
drawn, giving his orders languidly and indifferently." Ney ^Tith^^"'^ 

burst out in indignation at his master's inaction, when Murat 

interposed. According to Segur, "He [Murat] remembered 
seeing the Emperor the day before, when reconnoitring the 
front of the enemy's line, stop frequently, get off his horse, 
and, leaning his brow against a cannon, remain there in an 
attitude of pain." Next is detailed his similar incapacitation at 
Dresden, August 28, 1813. Then how, "a few days before he 
left Paris for Waterloo, the Emperor told Davoust and the 
Count de Segur joere that he had no longer any confidence in 
his star, and his worn depressed look was in keeping with his 
words." 

As to the nature of this malady, the Quarterly reviewer 
says : " Two short extracts from attestations signed by Ywan, 
his body surgeon, confirmed by Mestivier, the body physician 
during the Kussian campaign, will suffice." He then quotes, in 
French, the passages thus translated : — " The Emperor was ex- 
tremely susceptible to atmospheric influence. It was essential 
for him, in order to preserve the equilibrium, that the skin 
should always perform its functions. As soon as its tissue 
became hard (tissu etait serre), whether from moral or atmo- 
spheric cause, the appearance of irritation manifested itself with 
an influence more or less grave, and the cough and suppression 
[ischurie) declared themselves violently. All these symptoms 
yielded to the re-establishment of the functions of the skin. 
. . . He was subject to moral influences, and the spasm ordi- 
narily operated on the stomach and the bladder. The displace- 
ment from being on horseback augmented his sufferings. He 
experienced mishaps of this kind at the time of the battle of 
Moskowa." Napoleon himself, the Quarterly reviewer further 
notes, told the elder Segur, in 18 12, that " from his youth he 
had suffered from attacks, getting more frequent, it is true, of 
this infirmity, which he believed to be merely nervous." 

Bearing in mind the testimony thus cited as to Napoleon's 
physical condition, it is .not too much to claim that the 
instances of his prostration which will be enumerated in the 
course of the narrative are quite sufficient to account for 
the constantly recurring delays and the general slackness in 



2,6 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

>jQtg . the French operations which brought to destruction this admi- 

Napoieon's rablj conceived campaign and noble army. To facilitate col- 
^^_1_ lection of the evidence on this important subject, there may be 
given here a reference to the pages on which such evidences 
are described — note 24, page 47 ; n. 31, p. 56; n. 63, p. 115 ; 
n. 72, p. 125 ; text, p. 127 ; n. 138, p. 220; n. 148, p. 235 ; 
n. 256, p. 403. 

At the cost of anticipating the narrative, it may be said 
that the facts established, in every case by the testimony of 
eye-witnesses, are as follows : — That, on the evening of the first 
day of the campaign (June 1 5 ), Napoleon was so " overwhelmed 
with fatigue " that he took to his bed before 9 p.m., which is 
stated in a letter written at the time and at his own command 
by Baron Fain to Joseph Bonaparte ; that (on the testimony of 
Gren. Keille to Count Segur) on the morning of June i6th — 
when hours were of the utmost value — Napoleon was sunk in 
prostration and languor, unable to attend to the affairs of the 
army ; that (on the testimony of Gren. Grrouchy, corroborated 
by the tacit assent of Soult and the entire headquarters staff), 
in the evening of the same day, he went to bed immediately 
after the close of the battle of Ligny, and was in such condi- 
tion that none of his staff dared enter his chamber to procure 
his sanction for vitally important orders ; that (on the same 
authority), on the morning of June 1 7th, there was the same 
impossibility of getting access to him to secure orders that 
ought to have gone out at daybreak, while that tendency to 
barren expatiation described by Charras caused a further delay 
of those orders until noon — a delay which enabled Bliicher to 
effect his junction with Wellington at Waterloo ; that (on the 
testimony of Grudin, as reported by the Earl of Albemarle), on 
the morning of the battle of Waterloo (June 18th), Napoleon 
secluded himself until nearly noon, and thus lost the hours 
during which he might have overwhelmed the Anglo-Allies 
before the coming up of the Prussians; that (on the relation 
of his staff officers, Turenne and Monthyon, to Segur), during 
the progress of the battle, he remained motionless for long 
intervals, seated at a table, frequently sinking forward upon it, 
asleep ; lastly, that (on the same authority), during the flight 
after the battle, he was so far sunk in the same state of drowsi- 



FIEST DAY — FRENCH ADVANCE. 2,7 

ness, that he could only be kept in his saddle by Bertrand's and Note : 
Monthyon's riding on either side and holding him on his horse. heaM""^ ^ 

If these facts are admitted, the allegation by Thiers and 
Chesney that Napoleon " was physically capable of fully bearing 
the fatigues incident to a bold aggressive campaign " is simply 
monstrous.] 



. At the first gleam ofday^^lSTapoleon, accompanied by TheCam- 
his brother Jerome, was seen to step out upon a balcony Waterloo, 
at Beaumont, and carefully examine the promise of the June 15. 
weather — an important matter to him, since rain, in 
the heavy plains of Belgium, would seriously impede 
the rapid movements of his cavalry and artillery upon 
which he counted so much. All seemed fair as the 
hour arrived for the prescribed advance — the left 3 a.m. 
column, from Solre upon the bridge over the Sambre, 
at Marchiennes, two miles above Charleroi ; the centre 
from Beaumont ; and the right from Phihppeville, upon 
Charleroi itself. But the left alone was in motion at 
the a]3pointed time, — Rielle's corps (the 2d) marching- 
down the right bank of the Sambre, and its advanced 
division, under Prince Jerome, soon coming in contact 4 a.m. 
with the Prussian outposts at Thuin, whom it drove in, 
skirmishing vigorously, upon Marchiennes and the head 
of the bridge. In the centre Gen. Pajol's corps of light 
cavalry, the advanced guard, moved off in accordance 
with its instructions, and forced back the enemy's skir- 
mishers until it came upon the Prussian rearguard at 
the Charleroi bridge, where, being unsupported, it was 
checked. The infantry corps which should have fol- 
lowed in support of Pajol was that of Yandamme (the 

^® As many events diu-ing this on June i8th, at the Observatory of 

campaign are fixed with reference Brussels, the sun rose at 3.48 and 

to "dayhreak," "sunrise," "sunset," set at 8.14. 
etc., it is well to bear in naind that 



FIEST DAY — FRENCH ADVANCE. 39 

^d) ; but he had received no orders, the officer who The Cam- 

. . T I 11 paign of 

bore them having been injured on the way ; so that the Waterloo, 
entire 3d corps lay quietly in bivouac until Lobau's June 15. 
corps (the 6th) — which, with the Guard and the reserve 
cavalry, formed the remainder of the column — came 
inarching upon their rear, and, acquainting Vandamme 
with his duty, got his troops at last in motion. The 6 a.m. 
right column was led by Gerard, whose corps (the 4th) 
had been tardy in coining up from Metz to the original 
rendezvous ; so that Napoleon in issuing his orders the 
night before had quahfied those to Gerard, instructing 
him to move with the others at 3 o'clock " if the divisions 
which compose this corps d'armee are together." He 
had, however, to wait two hours beyond this time for 
his rear divisions to come up, and, when otherwise 
ready to move, was checked by the serious discovery 
that the commander of his leading division. General de 
Bourmont, with two of his colonels and his staff, had 
deserted to the enemy. To report this fact to Napoleon 
and to receive his changed orders, which were to cross, 
not by the bridge of Charleroi, but by that of Chatelet, 
four miles to the eastward, so protracted Gerard's 
advance that the 4th corps did not get wholly across the 
Sambre that day and had no share in its operations. Thus 
began, at its outset, that series of delays which in their 
aggregate ruined Napoleon's brilliantly conceived Cam- 
paign of Waterloo.^^ Meanwhile, the left and centre 

1^ Vandamme 's delay, character- and in illustration of tlie Frencli staff 
ized by Napoleon as " un funeste organization he quotes from the Duke 
contretemps" is charged by Thiers to de Fezensac, who served upon it from 
Soult's failure to send a duplicate 1806 to 1813. "Long journeys on 
and triplicate of the orders, as had duty," he says, " were made in car- 
been done by Berthier, his prede- riages charged at the post rate ; but 
cessor as Chief of Staff. Chesney in some officers put the money in their 
reply justifies Soult only by showing pockets, and obtained horses by re- 
that Berthier had on certain occa- quisition. . . . As for messages taken 
sions taken no greater precautions, on horseback, no person took the 



40 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



columns had swept back all the Prussian pickets on the 
south side of the Sambre, and reached the bridges. 



pains to inquire if we had a horse 
that could walk, even when it was 
necessary to go at a gallop. The 
order must be executed without 
waiting for the means. , . . This 
hahit of attempting everything with 
the most feeble instruments, this 
wish to overlook impossibilities, this 
unbounded assurance of success, 
which at first helped to win us advan- 
tages, in the end became our destruc- 
tion. ... To ask for a guide would 
have been of no more use than to ask 
for a horse. An officer always had 
an excellent horse, knew the countrj^, 
was never taken, met no accident, 
and got rapidly to his destination ; 
and of all this there was so little 
doubt that often a second message 
was thought unnecessary." This 
testimony is important because of 
the endless series of miscarriages by 
all parties in this campaign, attributed 
to lost or delayed dispatches. On 
this same June 15th Gen. Zieten 
sent word to Wellington at 4 a.m. 
that he was attacked in force. " His 
staff' service must have been poorly 
arranged," says Chesney, " since the 
officer who bore this important news 
did not reach Miiffling until 3 p.m., 
having taken apparently eleven hours 
to traverse a distance which an or- 
dinary pedestrian might have covered 
in the same time." In the same 
manner Gen. Steinmetz, the western- 
most of the Prussian brigadiers, sent 
warning of the attack to the nearest 
English commander at 8 a.m., but 
the message does not seem to have 
reached Brussels before evening. It 
is on the score of this alleged 
failure on Zieten's part to warn the 
Duke that Gleig and other writers 



seek to charge him with the tardy 
co-operation of the English, and to 
exonerate Wellington. = Bourmont's 
treason and its consequences have 
been much misrepresented in conse- 
quence of a misstatement of the time 
of his desertion. Napoleonist writers 
used to date the event on the 14th, 
and give it importance by alleging 
that the Allies were thus informed 
of the intention of the French to ad- 
vance on the 1 5th. Napoleon's own 
bulletin of the 15th states that it 
occurred on that day, and Thiers ex- 
pressly contradicts the old version. 
The Rev. John S. 0. Abbott narrates 
the incident in his happiest vein : 
''This man [Bourmont], considering 
the cause of Napoleon now desperate, 
in the basest manner deserted, and 
carried to the Allies, as his peace- 
offering, the knowledge of the Em- 
peror's order of march. Napoleon, 
a perfect master of himself, received 
the tidings of this untoward defec- 
tion with his accustomed tranquillity. 
Bliicher ivelcomecl the traitor Bour- 
mont cordially, and the Bourbons 
loaded him with honours. This 
event rendered it necessary for Napo- 
leon to countermand some of his 
orders, that he might deceive the 
enerny" The cordial reception is 
thus described by Siborne : " When 
General de Bourmont was presented 
to Bliicher, the latter could not re- 
frain from evincing his contempt for 
the faithless soldier; and to those 
who endeavoui-ed to appease him 
and to impress him more favourably 
toward the general by directing his 
attention to the white cockade which 
he wore in a conspicuous fashion, the 
Prince bluntly remarked, ' JEinerleif 



FIKST DAY — FRENCH ADVANCE. 4 1 

That of MarcMennes was barricaded and defended by TheCam- 
some battalions of Pirch's brigade, with two guns ; but, walerioo. 
after several attacks, it was carried, and Eeille's corps June 15. 
began the passage of the river, the Prussians falHng iq^.m. 
back, some upon Gilly, others directly upon Fleurus. 
At the bridge at Charleroi, Zieten, with the mass of the 
2d brigade (Pirch's), made a resolute stand until Pajol's 
light horse were reinforced by some marines and sappers 
of the Young Guard whom Napoleon had hurried up 
by a side road to take the place which should have been 
filled by Yandamme : then the bridge was carried, and 
at noon the French were in possession of Charleroi and 12 m. 
of both banks of the river above it. 

Possession of Charleroi gave the French access to 
the two important roads which diverge from it — the 
one, the great road running north to Brussels, the other, 
more eastwardly, through Fleurus and SombrefFe to 
Gembloux. About thirteen miles out of Charleroi on 
the Brussels road is Quatre Bras, and at an equal dis- 
tance on the eastern road is SombrefFe, through which 
two villages runs, east and west, another chaussee which 
connects Namur with Nivelles. The ground bounded 
by these three roads formed what has been termed the 
" Fleurus triangle," and it became the key to Napoleon's 

was das Volk fiir einen Zettel an- bers of Bourmont's staif who joined 

steckt ! Hundsfott hleiht Hundsfott ! ' " in Ids desertion — says : " The division 

(" All the same, whatever ticket one abandoned by Bourmont was furious, 

stitches on him ! A scoundrel stays Gerard rode at a gallop among their 

a scoundrel ! ") The countermand ranks, and endeavoured somewhat to 

of orders could in no possible way calm them, assuring them that this 

" deceive the enemy : " it simply abominable defection could not in 

diverted Gerard's march from the any respect aifect the results of the 

Charleroi road and bridge, already operations of the army." Bourmont, 

obstructed by Vandamme's delay, to he adds, did not reach Charleroi 

another bridge otherwise uniised, imtil 8 a.m. on June 1 5th — at which 

and is noteworthy only for the ad- hour the Prussian army was abeady 

ditional loss of time it involved. = moving in concentration, 
Oharras — after naming the five mem- 



42 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



IS- 



future operations, since the Namur-Mvelles road served 
as the communication between the Allied armies, and if 
the French could but hold Quatre Bras and SombrefFe 
(or Ligny) the Allies were severed, and could only 
reunite by falling back upon another position in the 
rear.^*^ Napoleon now only waited for his centre column 
to defile over the bridge to direct it against the Prus- 
sians retreating upon their point of concentration at 
Fleurus ; and at the same time he purposed pushing his 
left wing upon the Brussels road, to cut off the Prussians 
from the English and to seize Quatre Bras. At the 
time when he made his own way out of Charleroi, he 
found Eeille's column on his left pushing the retreat 
toward Gosselies both of that portion of Pirch's brigade 
which it had dislodged from Marchiennes and also of the 
brigade of Steinmetz (the ist), — which had formed the 
extreme Prussian right, as far westward as Binche, a 
force in all of some 10,000 men. The Prussians held 



^° Wellington and Bliicher fully 
realised the importance of this posi- 
tion. "At a meeting held by them 
at Tirlemont on the 3rd May," says 
Chesney, " they had discussed the 
possibility of the enemy's advance 
through Charleroi in such an attempt 
to sever their armies, and had agreed 
as to the movements to be under- 
taken to counteract so dangerous an 
attack. ... In the given case, the 
Prussian army was to assemble be- 
tween Sombreffe and Charleroi, the 
English between Marchiennes and 
Gosselies. . . . Had these positions 
been attained, the Allied armies 
would have nearly touched, and 
have guarded all the approaches from 
the Sambre into the Fleurus triangle, 
so that whichever one Napoleon at- 
tacked would be aided by a flank 
attack upon him by the other, Such 



were the Allied views beforehand. 
Yet, at 3 P.M. on the 15th, but one 
Prussian corps was near the ground, 
and saving one division (Perpoucher's 
Dutch-Belgians), not a man of Wel- 
lington's army within reach of it, 
whilst the head of a column of 40,000 
Frenchmen had passed the Sambre 
at Marchiennes, and that of another 
of nearly 70,000 was entering Char- 
leroi ! " It has generally been stated, 
following Siborne, that the Allies' 
intended points of concentration 
were at the two northern angles of 
the triangle, Quatre Bras and Som- 
breffe, with their wings several miles 
asunder ; but the position above in- 
dicated, some miles farther south- 
ward, and within the triangle, would 
have brought them into close sup- 
porting distance. 



FIRST DAY — FRENCH ADVANCE. 43 

Gosselies tenaciously, and it was not until Napoleon had ^he cam- 

'' , . ■*- paign of 

sent forward successive reinforcements of all arms from W aterloo , 
his centre that Eeille succeeded in ejecting them ; when J^ne 15. 
Steinmetz moved off in a well-conducted retreat, his 
rear protected by cavalry and artillery, in the direction 
of Fleurus, thus leaving open, so far as the Prussians 
were concerned, the road to Brussels. The Emperor 
had waited to see this accomphshed and his left secured 
by the advance of Eeille, in whose support D'Erlon's 
corps, now considerably in the rear, was ordered to 
follow along the Brussels road. He was about to take 
the Fleurus road, and to direct the more serious conflict 
abeady commenced in that direction between his centre, 
under Vandamme and Grouchy, and the Prussians 
under Pirch, when he was joined by JSTey, who had just 
arrived from Paris Amid hasty words of greeting, 7 p.m. 
Napoleon invested the Marshal with the command of the 
left column, and gave him verbal orders to continue the 
advance toward Brussels. ^^ On the right, whither Na- 

^'^ It was just before Napoleon's of the several divisions and regiments, 
departure from Paris that he wrote even of the names of their officers, or 
to the Minister of War (June 11), their whereabouts. The instructions 
" Summon Ney. If he wishes to be at for this advance are said by Thiers 
the first battle, let him report on the to have been conveyed in the follow- 
13th at Avesnes, where my head- ing manner: — " ' Do you know Quatre 
quarters will be." Reaching Beau- Bras ? ' said Napoleon to the Mar- 
mont late in the night of the 14th, shal, ' I should think so,' replied 
Ney was unable to follow the Empe- Ney ; 'I fought in this locality in my 
ror next morning, because his own youth, and I remember that it forms 
horses had not arrived, and he could the nucleus of all the roads.' * Go 
not procure any until he learned then,' replied Napoleon, ' and take 
that Marshal Mortier had " fallen ill " possession of this post, by which the 
in the town — mistrusting Napoleon's English might join the Prussians, 
success, as Brialmont intimates. Send a detachment in the direction 
From him Ney bought two horses, of Fleurus to make observations.' " 
as did his first aide-de-camp, Col. This is the starting-point of Thiers' 
Heymes, when the two followed the laboured falsification of Ney's subse- 
army. The command thus suddenly quent course. There were four wit- 
given him was not a little perplexing, nesses to the interview — Napoleon, 
since he was ignorant of the strength Soult, Ney, and Heymes : Ney was 



44 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

poleon now rode, the Prussians had checked the French 
centre m its advance upon Fleurus. Gen. von Pirch, 
when forced out of Charleroi, had retired, in accordance 
with Zieten's orders, to Gilly, a village on the road to 
Fleurus two miles from the bridge of Chatelet ; by which 
Gerard's right column ought long since to have crossed 
and so taken Zieten in flank. Here Pirch had abundant 
time, after concentrating the 2d brigade and effecting 
a junction with a detachment of the 3d (Jagow's) at 
Chatelet, to take up a strong position across the road, 
which he blockaded by an abatis ; for Vandamme, 
originally late in reaching Charleroi, had to wait for the 
passage of his corps over a single bridge, and Grouchy, 
who had gone forward to reconnoitre, was deceived as 
to the strength of the Prussians, concealed as they were 
by some woods, and sent to the Emperor for further 
instructions. Thus it was not until Napoleon, riding 
across from the Brussels road, made a reconnoissance 
in person and gave orders for the attack, that the en- 
gagement began. It had already become warm, when 
Zieten — who had by this time effected the concentration 
of Jagow's and Henkel's brigades, which Pirch was 
covering — sent orders for a retreat upon Fleurus ; and 
this was successfully accomphshed, although the retiring 
columns were repeatedly charged by the four squadrons 

killed before the controversy arose ; said, " Concentrate there your men. 
Soult told contradictory stories about Fortify your army by defensive field 
it, and cannot be credited ; and the works. Hasten, so that by midnight 
question of veracity lay between this position, occupied and impregna- 
Heymes, who denied that instruc- ble, shall bid defiance to any attack." 
tions were given to take Quatre Chesney's searching examination of 
Bras, and Napoleon himself. To the subject, a digest of Charras's, 
" lie like a bulletin " had long been a leaves no room to doubt that the sup- 
current by-word, as the universal posed order to occupy Quatre Bras 
estimate of Napoleon's veracity when on June 15 was a pure afterthought, 
detailing his military doings. The maintained subsequently by persist- 
Rev. Mr. Abbott improves even upon ent falsehood. 
Thiers, and alleges that Napoleon 



FIRST DAY — FRENCH ADVANCE. 45 

de service which accompanied the Emperor, and which ^he Cam- 
he himself launched against the Prussian rear under the Watei-ioo. 
lead of Gen. Letort of his own staff ; but Letort received J^ne 15. 
a mortal wound, and the French cavalry were repulsed 
by a charge of the Brandenburg dragoons sent against 
them by Zieten, and with an interchange of artillery 
fire the affair ended. The arrival of Steinmetz's brisrade 
at St. Amand, a village behind Fleurus, completed the " ^^^^• 
concentration of the Prussian ist corps. Zieten's re- 
treat on this occasion — the manner in which he col- 
lected his corps scattered from Dinant to Binche, a 
length of more than forty miles, and retarded the ad- 
vance of overwhelming numbers from daybreak till late 
at night, over a distance of some fifteen miles — has been 
considered by military critics a model of such opera- 
tions. Thus ended the day's conflict on the French 
right. 

On the left Key had taken command of the column 7 p-m- 
committed to him just after Eeille had driven Steinmetz 
from the Brussels road at Gossehes. Key followed up 
the retreat with Girard's ^^ division of Eeille's corps, 
which pursued them toward Fleurus as far as the village 
of Wangenies, where Girard remained for the night, 

'^^ Some confusion has been in- Count Gerard commanded the 4th 

troduced into accounts of this cam- corps. = In like manner, among the 

paign through the similarity of the Prussians Gen. Pirch I, commander 

names of Gens. Girard and Gerard — of the 2d corps, is to he distin- 

hoth of whom are called Girard in guished from Pirch II, commander 

the American edition of Gleig's of the 2d brigade of Zieten's ist 

Story of Waterloo, while both are corps. = It may also be noted that 

called Gerard in that of Hazlitt's the division of Reille's corps which 

Life of Naiwleon, and in that of Prince Jerome was, by courtesy, said 

Thiers' Consulate and Empire Girard to command throughout the com- 

is spoken of by both names indiscri- paign, was really directed by Lieut.- 

minately, though Gerard is correctly Gen. Guilleminot ; and confusion has 

styled. Gen. Girard, who fell at St. arisen from the interchange of these 

Amand la Haye, commanded the 7th names as the commander, 
division of ReUles' 2d corps d'armee : 



46 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

his troops touching those of Vandamme and Grouchy, 
and thus maintaining the connection between Napoleon 

IS- and Ney. Already Bachelu's division of infantry and 
Pire's of cavalry had pushed on toward Quatre Bras ; 
and now Ney, leaving Eeille with his two remaining 
divisions in reserve at Gosselies, followed them with 
two cavalry regiments of the Guard which the Emperor 
had left him, but with injunctions not to expose them 
in action and a promise to replace them next day with 

s I'-M. Kellermann's reserve corps of heavy cavalry. But before 
Ney could overtake his troops, Pire's lancers had come 
upon the foremost of the outposts of the extreme left 
of the Anglo-Belgian army — a brigade of Gen. de Per- 
poncher's Dutch-Belgian infantry division, under the 
command of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, — 
who were posted in the village of Frasnes, two miles 
south of Quatre Bras.^'^ The lancers drove in the 
pickets, and, following them through Frasnes, attacked 
a battalion which, with a battery of Dutch horse- 
artillery, was drawn up in its rear ; but they were met 
by so stout a fire of musketry and grape that they were 
forced to draw off until Bachelu's infantry came up to 
their support, when the combined force compelled the 
battalion to retreat. This it did as far as the wood of 
Bossu, which filled the south-eastern angle of the cross- 
roads of Quatre Bras, when it threw itself into the 
woods and covered the right flank of the remainder of 
Prince Bernhard's brigade, which he had drawn up to 
hold the Namur-Nivelles road, and which showed so 
strong a front and opened so hot an artillery fire that 
I. the French were cliecked. Ney came up at this time, 
and reconnoitred in person. It was rapidly growing 

-■'' The village of Frasnes, on the which is on the other side of the 
west of the Brussels road,— not the road, and nearer to Quatre Bras, 
hamlet on the Heights of Frasnes, 



FIRST DAY — BRUSSELS. 47 

dark ; he could not discern the number of the enemy, ^\^ Cam- 

paign of 

who were partly hidden in the wood ; his men and Waterloo, 
horses were exhausted by seventeen hours' march ; and J"ne 15. 
the firing from the direction of Fleurus showed him that 
he was already far in advance of the centre column, 
and in danger of being caught between the English 
and Prussian armies. He determined therefore not to 
take ground beyond Frasnes, and, leaving his troops 
there, rode back to Gosselies, where he gave necessary 
orders to Eeille, and then returned about midnight to 12 p.m. 
Charleroi, where he supped with the Emperor, who had 
also returned thither ,^'^ and remained in conversation 
with him for two hours ; after which, without taking 
rest, the Marshal again rode back to Gossehes, to con- j^ne ^6, 
cert with Eeille the movements of the troops on the 3^'*^* 
coming day. 

In Brussels the day had passed very differently. 
For many weeks this capital had been the scene of 
constant gaiety, for here were assembled the Duke's 
staff and the famihes and friends of many of his officers, 
and it had also formed the rallying-point of number- 
less English tourists whom the approach of war had 
frightened from France and the Continent to this 
seductive resting-place, where the stir of military 
preparations only added zest to the daily round of 
hohday life. But the 15th of June was a marked 
day in the Enghsh society in Brussels, which was 
all astir about the great ball to be given in the 

-^ ''At 8 o'clock," says Charras, leon's order, by Baron Faiu to 

" lie [Napoleon] returned to Oharle- Joseph Bonaparte, and dated Oharle- 

roi, where were his headquarters in roi, June 15, 9 p.m. The incident 

the same house Zieten occupied in is noteworthy in consideration of 

the morning. ' Overwhelmed («cafi6/e) Ohesney's assertion, on Thiers' assur- 

with fatigue, he threw himself on ance, that Napoleon "was physically 

his bed to repose for some hours.' " capable of fully bearing the fatigues 

The last sentence is quoted by Char- incident to a bold aggressive cam- 

ras from a letter written, at Napo- paign " (see note, page 32). 



48 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



The Cam- 
paign of 
Waterloo. 

June 15. 



3 P-^i- 



evening by the Duchess of Eichmond, and only its 
anticipation occurred to vary the ordinary course of 
things. ^^ Tlie Duke of WeUington was unaware that 
anything unusual was taking place until, in the middle 
of the afternoon, the Prince of Orange came in from 
the outposts to dine with him, and brought to him a 
vague report that there had been fighting in the 



^^ Thackeray draws, in Vanity 
Fair, a picture of life in Brussels be- 
fore the campaign opened, from 
which the following touches are 
taken : — " In the meanwhile the 
business of life and living, and the 
pursuit of pleasure, especially, went 
on as if no end were to be expected to 
them, and no enemy in front. When 
our travellers arrived in Brussels, in 
which their regiment was quartered, 
a great piece of good fortune, as all 
said, they foimd themselves in one of 
the gayest and most brilliant little 
capitals in Europe, and where all the 
Vanity Fair booths were laid out 
with the most tempting liveliness 
and splendour. Gambling was here 
in profusion, and dancing in plenty ; 
feasting was there to fill with delight 
that great gourmand of a Jos : there 
was a theatre where a miraculous 
Catalani was delighting all hearers : 
beautiful rides, all enlivened with 
martial splendour ; a rare old city, 
with strange costumes and wonder- 
ful architecture. . . . Every day 
during this happy time there was 
novelty and amusement for all par- 
ties. There was a church to see, or 
a picture gallery — there was a ride 
or an opera. The bands of the regi- 
ments were making music at all 
hours. The greatest folks of Eng- 
land walked in the Park — there was 

a perpetual military festival 

There never was, since the days of 



Darius, such a brilliant train of 
camp-followers as hung round the 
train of the Duke of Wellington's 
army in the Low Countries, in 181 5 ; 
and led it dancing and feasting, as it 
were, up to the very brink of battle. 
A certain ball which a noble 
Duchess gave at Brussels on the 1 5th 
of June, in the above-named year, 
is historical. All Brussels had been 
in a state of excitement about it ; 
and I have heard from ladies who 
were in that town at that period, 
that tlie talk and interest of persons 
of their own sex regarding the ball, 
was much greater even than in re- 
spect of the enemy in their front. 
The struggles, intrigues, and prayers 
to get tickets were such as only 
English ladies will employ, in order 
to gain admission to the society 
of the great of their own nation." 
Thackeray gives glimpses of the ball 
itself in the course of his stoi-y ;. but 
very circumstantial details of its 
splendours, and of the incidents con- 
necting it with the campaign, are 
given in Charles Lever's once popu- 
lar novel, Charles G'lSIalley, the Irish 
Dragoon. Here are introduced most 
of the sensational anecdotes current 
in their day, but long since disproved, 
and personal desci'iptions of nearly 
all the general officers of the Allied 
armies, for most of whom it would 
be easy to substantiate an alihi. 



FIRST DAY — BRUSSELS. 49 

morning near Tliuin, but that the French had sub- TheCam- 
sequently disappeared from there. After consultation wateii*oo. 
with Baron Muffling — who now came in with Zieten's juue 15. 
delayed dispatch of 4 a.m.''^*' — the Duke determined 
that the French design was not yet sufficiently de- 
veloped to fix his own point for concentration, and 
he contented himself with issuing orders for the whole s p-"- (?) 
of his troops to assemble at designated points and 
hold themselves in readiness to march, and at the same 
time he sent to inquire of the outposts before Mons 
whether any movement of the enemy had been noticed 
in that direction. Later in the evening, as he was 
about setting out for the ball, he received a dispatch 
from Bliicher announcing that Napoleon had crossed 
the Sambre, and one from Mons stating that all the 
French in that quarter had moved toward Charleroi. 
He then issued a second order, directing • the concen- 10 p.m. 
tration of the troops in the direction of Nivelles, and 
proceeded to the ball.^^ 

'^ See note 19, page 40. all the way from 4 o'clock to 8 — 

'^'^ Tlie first orders had directed contains this instruction, which the 

an assemblage of the divisions and second order does not modify : — 

brigades adapted to a concentration " The Prince of Orange is requested 

toward the left flank. The second to collect, at Nivelles, the 2d and 3^? 

order was in full as follows : — divisions of the army of the Low 

" After Orders, 10 o'clock, P.M., Brux- Countries: and should that point 

elles, i$th of June, 181 5. — The 3rd have been attacked this day, to 

division of infantry to continue its move the 3d division of British in- 

movement from Braine-le-Comte fantry upon Nivelles, as soon as col- 

upou Nivelles. The first division lected. This movement is not to 

to move from Enghien upon Braine- take place until it is quite certain 

le-Oomte. The 2d and 4th divisions that the enemy's attack is upon the 

of infantry to move from Ath and right of the Prussian army, and the 

Grammont, also from Audenarde, left of the British army." This 

and to continue their movements would have made Nivelles the 

upon Enghien. The above move- easternmost point occupied by the 

ments with as little delay as possible. British force, and have whoUy aban- 

Wellington." = It should be noted doned Quatre Bras, already held by 

that the first order — without date as Prince Bernhard's brigade of the 2d 

to the hour, which has been stated division, the only point through 

E 



The Cam- 
paign of 
Waterloo. 

June 15. 
Night." 



50 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Of the famous ball — where " all went merry as a 
marriage bell " — it need only be said that, at the Duke's 



which the English and Prussians 
could communicate ; and would have 
left Ney an unimpeded road to with- 
in fourteen miles of Brussels. The 
commander of the division, Gen. 
Perponcher, saw the mistake ; and, in 
the absence of the corps-commander, 
the Pi-ince of Orange, who had 
gone with the Duke from dinner to 
the ball, be took it upon himself to 
retain his hold upon Quatre Bras — 
a step which was approved by the 
Prince, who, says Ohesney, " reached 
Braine from Brussels before 3 A.M., 
having been treated with some petu- 
lance by Wellington for his display 
of anxiety as to the advance of the 
French against his corps." The 
Prince's anxiety seems more credit- 
able than the Duke's prolonged in- 
action ; but Siborne gives another 
version of the incident. Rejoining 
to the allegations once in vogue that 
the Duke was " surprised " by tlie 
French advance, and unaware per- 
haps that the Prince had just been 
dining with his commander, Siborne 
says, " The only real surprise which 
the Duke experienced on that occa- 
sion was in finding the Prince of 
Orange, on the night of the 15th, at 
the Duchess of Richmond's ball, 
when he delicately suggested to His 
Royal Highness the expediency of 
his returning to his corps." = The 
story of a " surprise," if not otherwise 



by the date of the orders issued be- 
fore the ball. The Rev. Mr. Abbott, 
however, seems to know all about it, 
and relates the circumstances with 
his wonted vivacity. " In the midst 
of the gaiety," he tells us, " as Wel- 
lington was conversing with the 
Duke of Brunswick in the embrasure 
of a window, a courier approached, 
and informed him, in a low tone of 
voice, that Napoleon had crossed 
the frontier, and was, with his army, 
within ten miles of Brussels. Wel- 
lington, astounded by the intelli- 
gence, turned pale. The Duke of 
Brunswick started from his chair so 
suddenly that he quite forgot a 
child slumbering in his lap, and 
rolled the helpless little one violently 
upon the floor. The news instantly 
spread through the ball-room. Wel- 
lington and all the officers hastily 
retired. The energies of the Iron 
Duke were immediately aroused to 
their utmost tension. Bugles sounded, 
drums beat, soldiers rallied, and the 
whole mighty host, cavalry, artil- 
lery, infantry, and field-trains, were, 
in an hour, careering through the 
dark and flooded streets of Brussels." 
The Rev. Mr. Abbott's mode of col- 
lecting his historical data is curi- 
ously illustrated in this passage. The 
idea of the Duke of Brunswick's 
being in a window obviously comes 
from the lines in Childe Harold — 



exploded, would have been disproved 

" Within a window'd niche of that high hall 
Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain." 

A subsequent stanza, done into description of the army's departure 
prose, furnishes the veracious divine's from Brussels, while one of its lines, 

" And the deep thunder peal on peal afar," 



FIRST NIGHT — BRUSSELS. 5 I 



desire, it was attended by the officers who had been xheCam- 
invited, especially by those of his personal staff, but wa^rioo. 
that it was hinted to division and brigade commanders June 15. 
and those from the outposts that they should take their ^^ 
leave early and repair to their respective commands. 
On various pretexts, they gradually retired ; but Wel- 
lington remained until a late hour, and returned thanks 
after supper to the health of the Prince Eegent pro- 
posed by the Prince of Orange, when he too departed, 
and the company soon broke up. " There might have 
been one hour's quiet in the streets of Brussels. The 
rattle of carriages was over. Light after light had been 
extinguished in chamber and in hall, and sleep seemed 
to have established its dominion over the city, when a 
bugle call, heard first in the Place d'Armes on the 
summit of the Montague du Pare, and taken up and 
echoed back through various quarters of the town, 
roused all classes of people in a moment. From every 
window in the place heads were protruded, and a 
thousand voices desired to be informed if anything was 
the matter ; for though they put the idea from them, 
few had lain down that night altogether free from 
uneasiness, and now the bugle's warning note seemed 
to speak to their excited imaginations of an enemy at the 
gates. Anxious, therefore, and shrill were the voices 

is the foundation for his statement tlie statement that " for three daj'S 
that everj'thing went " careering and nights the rain had fallen almost 
through the dark and flooded streets without intermission."' As a matter 
of Brussels." Now, Lord Byron's of fact, the weather had been singu- 
" thunder " was a metaphorical re- larly fine, and, except for the heat, 
ference to the sound of cannon— an continued to he so until after night- 
anachronism, by the way, since there fall of June i6th, when it rained at 
was no artiUery firing within hear- Ligny, but not at Quatre Bras or 
ing-distance of Brussels until' the Brussels. Mr. Abbott's page, how- 
next day, — but Mr. Abbott has ever, continues to le " flooded " from 
taken it for the thunder which ac- this time forward, 
companies rain, and bnilds upon it 

E 2 



52 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

which demanded to be informed of the cause of this 
interruption to their repose. But there was httle need 
to answer them in words : the bugle call was soon 
followed by the rolling of drums and the screaming of 
bagpipes. By-and-by regiments were seen, by the dim 
light of the stars, to muster in park, square, street, 
and alley — horses neighed — guns rumbled over the 
causeways — drivers shouted — and over all was heard, 
from time to time, the short quick word of command, 
which soldiers best love to hear, and obey with the 
greatest promptitude. The reserve, in short, was getting 
under arms, each brigade at its appointed alarm-post ; 
and by-and-by, one after another, as they were ready, 
they marched off in the direction of the forest of 
Soignies." ^^ Day was approaching as Picton's division 
marched out of Brussels on the Quatre Bras road, the 
Duke of Brunswick's corps shortly following — their direc- 
tions being to advance as far as the point beyond the 
Forest of Soignies where the roads diverge to Quatre Bras 
and Nivelles. Toward the latter point were coming at the 
same time the scattered detachments of their comrades 
on their right. Thus, at last, the Duke of Wellington 
was moving to establish, if it were not too late, his 
support of his ally, a full day after the enemy's attack.^^ 

-^ The quotation is from Gleig. course seemed faultless in the eyes of 

The picture of the bustle and stir, his coimtrymen who in those days 

the partings, the grief of the wives recounted his achievements. " His 

and sisters and children left in Grace," says Siborue, "was deter- 

Brussels, the terrors and suspense of mined to make no movement until 

the non-combatants who remained the real line of attack should become 

there for the next three momentous manifest ; and hence it was that, if 

days, is drawn in chapters xxix to the attack had been made even at a 

XXX7I of Vanity Fail- as none but later period, his dispositions would 

Thackeray could draw it. Lever gives have remained precisely the same." 

incidents in Charles O'Malley which This may be termed " a statement 

are spirited and convey a lively idea of the fact, but no justification of 

of the prevalent excitement, but are it," which is the expression Ohesney 

not historically valuable. applies to Hooper's similar remark 

-^ The Duke's prolonged delay of that Wellington, " never precipitate 



FIRST NIGHT— THE PRUSSIANS. 



The Prussian concentration was far more advanced 
at nightfall than was that of the Enghsh many hours 
later. The time gained by Zieten's masterly retreat 
had enabled Pirch's (2d) corps and Thielmann's (3d) 
corps to be near at hand. In accordance with the 
orders of the day before, Pirch was already on his way 

is afforded by the letters of Sir 



Tlie Cam- 
paign of 
Waterloo. 

June 15. 
Night. 



or nervous, contented himself with 
issuing orders about 5 p.m. for the 
assembly of each division." Gleig 
goes even fui-ther, and makes his 
attendance at the ball the theme of 
admiration. Of the suggestion made 
him, that the Duchess of Richmond 
be advised to postpone her entertain- 
ment, this writer observes, "He 
rejected the counsel with a good- 
humoured joke, observing that it 
would never do to disappoint a lady 
of her Grace's merits ; and thus, as 
his habit was, wrapped up the most 
important political considerations in 
an apparent regard to the punctilios 
of civilised life. The Duke knew 
that Brussels and Belgium generally 
would take the alarm soon enough ; 
and he was too prudent to precipitate 
the event." Kennedy, though an 
admirer of the Duke's, says of his 
evening's stay in Brussels, " The 
Duke was throwing away golden 
minutes. By riding himself toward 
Charleroi at the first alarm, he would 
have seen for himself that this was 
no feint, and by next morning as- 
sembled troops sufficient to check 
Ney and aid Blticher." Continental 
critics agree as to the absurdity of 
his keeping his headquarters so far 
distant as Brussels, after it was 
known that the French were gather- 
ing, — that is, after June 12th or ^ 3th. 
The example of the commander-in- 
chief of course found imitators. A 
curious illustration of the extreme 
deliberation of the English officers 



Augustus Frazer, who, as the com- 
mander of the British horse-artillery, 
ought at this juncture to have been 
among the nearest to the front. In 
a letter dated Brussels, June 15, 
10 P.M., he mentions that " Bona- 
parte is at Maubeuge, that he haa 
about 120,000 men there, that he 
has advanced in the direction of 
Binche," and more to the same effect. 
He then proceeds, " Admitting all 
this to be true, we may have a battle 
the day after to-morrow. The Duke 
has gone to a ball at the Duchess of 
Richmond's, but all is ready to move 
at daybreak. Of course all depends 
on the news which may arrive in the 
night. By way of being ready, I 
shall go to bed and get a few hours' 
sleep. It is now half-past 11." Next 
morning, in a postscript dated 6 a.m. 
— at which time Ney ought to have 
been attacking the Belgian troops at 
Quatre Bras— Frazer writes, " I have 
sent to Sir George Wood's to hear if 
we are to move, which I conclude 
we are of course 'to do. ... I have 
just learned that the Duke moves in 
half an hour. Wood thinks to 
Waterloo, which we cannot find on 
the map : this is the old story over 
again. . . . The whole place is in a 
bustle. Such jostling of baggage, of 
guns, and of waggons. It is very 
useful to acquire a quietness and 
composure about all these matters; 
one does not mend things by being 
in a hurry." 



54 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



from Namur to Sombreffe, and Thielmann from Ciney 
to Namur, when the orders issued by Bllicher imme- 
diately upon hearing of Zieten's being attacked quickened 
their advance ; and Pirch was at Mazy, four miles from 
Sombreffe, by dark, and Thielmann at Namur, ten miles 
further off, each with orders to advance at daybreak ; 
so that two hours' march would bring Pirch, and five 
hours Thielmann, to the position already taken up by 
Zieten at Ligny. But Billow's corps (the 4th), through 
a series of misapprehensions and delays, was still at 
Liege, sixty miles away ; and late in the night Bllicher 
learned that he would thus be deprived of the support 
of 30,000 men on whose presence he had counted for 
the morrow's battle. ^° 

The French on their part showed an utter relaxation 



^° To understand Biilow's error 
requires consideration of the time at 
which the orders were sent. The 
1st order, to concentrate his troops 
at Li^ge so as to be able to reach 
Hannut in a day's march, was sent 
on June 13th, but did not reach him 
until 5 A.M. on the 15th. The 2d 
order, sent on the 14th, to concen- 
trate at Hannut, arrived at 10.30 a.m. 
on the 15th. The 3d order, sent on 
the iSth at 10 a.m., to Hannut, 
where he was supposed then to be, 
directed him to advance to Gembloux. " 
The 4th, sent also via Gembloux to 
Hannut and carried ou to Liege, 
directed his advance from Gem- 
bloux to Sombreffe. Thus each 
order presupposed the prompt execu- 
tion of those before it. Now Billow 
at the outset believed that there 
would be no hostilities until a for- 
mal declaration of war was made ; he 
imagined that the concentration of 
the army was to take place at 
Hannut, so that his corps, lying 



nearest, need not hurry ; and Gnei- 
senau, Bliicher's chief of staff, had 
given him no intimation that there 
was urgency. He was in the act of 
executing the ist order when the 2d 
arrived, so late in the morning that 
he could not have altered the move- 
ments of his troops tiU late in the 
afternoon ; so he postponed its execu- 
tion until next day, reporting to 
headquarters that he would be at 
Hannut by noon of the i6th. The 
3d order lay waiting for him at 
Hannut until the bearer of the 4th 
found it and carried both on with 
him to Billow — too late to be of 
any use. Btilow's messenger, an- 
nouncing his intention to reach 
Hannut on the i6th, meanwhile 
reached Namur at 9 p.m. on the 
15th, and found that Bllicher had 
moved his headquarters to Sombreffe, 
whither it was forwarded. Biilow 
and Gneisenau were both in fault, 
the former for his delay, the latter 
for the vagueness of his despatches. 



FIRST NIGHT — THE FRENCH. 55 

at the close of the day which went far to compensate The Cam- 
for Welhngton's delays and Blticher's loss of an entire wluerfoo. 
corps d'armee from his expected strength. All over the June 15. 
Meurus triangle their forces lay sprawled wherever the ^^ 
darkness had overtaken them. The position of the 
heads of their columns was all that could be desired. 
At daybreak Ney could seize Quatre Bras, and Napoleon 
destroy one by one the three still ununited Prussian 
corps, if only their forces were well in hand and their 
action prompt. But Ney's column was scattered in 
detached bodies all along the road from Frasnes back to 
Marchiennes, a distance of twelve miles ; for D'Erlon's 
corps, which should have acted in close support of 
Eeille's, had not yet come forward from the river. Of 
the centre column, the heavy cavalry of the Guard, two of 
Grouchy's four reserve cavalry corps, and all of Lobau's, 
bivouacked on the south of the Sambre at Charleroi. 
Half of the right column also, Gerard's corps, had not 
yet passed the bridge at Chatelet. Napoleon's orders 
had been exphcit that the whole army was to have 
crossed the river before noon. Yet through the night 
some 35,000 men lay on the wrong side of the stream ; 
and it was plain that hours of daylight would be required 
to get the troops together for action. The plan of 
sundering the Allied armies had indeed already been 
accomplished ; but any further advantage to result from 
the carefully prepared surprise was slipping away 
through these accumulating delays. 

The dawn found the troops of each of the three June 16. 
armies astir and moving to effect their own concentra- 3 to 4 a.m. 
tion in anticipation of the enemy's. Napoleon, who had 
risen early, awaited at Charleroi reports of the Prussian 
movements about Fleurus, his troops meantime con- 
tinuing the passage of the Sambre at both Charleroi and 



56 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Chatelet, and joining the main body, though still 
waiting for orders to move to the front. Intelligence 
presently arrived from Grouchy that the Prussians — 
Zieten's and Pirch's corps — were deploying before 
Fleurus ; and some time was consumed by the Emperor 
in defining the dispositions for the day's movements and 
sending out the necessary orders for putting the troops 
in motion. By these orders the army was formed into 
two wings, each to operate on one side of the Fleurus 
triangle. On the left Ney was given the two corps he 
had had the day before — Eeille's and D'Erlon's — to- 
gether with Kellermann's corps of reserve cavalry ; and 
he was ordered to move upon and occupy Quatre Bras, 
preparatory to further operations. On the right 
Grouchy was put in command of Vandamme's and 
Gerard's corps and the three remaining corps of reserve 
cavalry, with which he was to take up a position at 
SombrefFe, to push forward an advance guard to 
Gembloux, reconnoitring the roads, especially that to 
Namur, and establishing his connection with Ney. 
One corps, Lobau's, was left in reserve at the junction 
of the roads near Charleroi, to advance upon either as 
need might require ; and the Guard followed the 
Emperor, who at noon drove up in his carriage to 
the troops of the right, which, passing Fleurus, now 
evacuated by the Prussians, were drawn up before 
Bliicher's position. ^^ 

^^ Napoleon's loss of half a day cept that, in the Prussian front, 

at so important a time as this is thus Grouchy and his outposts were on the 

commented upon by Hooper : — " The alert, eagerly watching the gathering 

French army was aroused from its of masses of troops above the plain 

slumbers at daybreak on the i6th. of Fleurus. It is written that the 

. . . The sun rose, and the hours old soldiers — and there were many 

sped on, but no order of movement in the army of Napoleon — stood in 

came from the Imperial headquarters. not mute astonishment at this in- 

Six o'clock arrived, seven struck. activity. We have shown that Na- 

The army remained motionless, ex- poleon, his wearied troops having 



SECOND DAY — QUATEE BRAS. 



57 



The two battles which raged simultaneously this The Cam- 
day must be described separately. walerioo. 



June i6. 



Quatre Bras had remained during the night in Q^atre 



rested for five hours^ might have 
concentrated, one mass near Fleurus, 
and another in front of Gosselies, by 
5 in the morning. Yet at 7, some 
say at 8, not a man had moved from 
the bivouac of the preceding night. — 
This inactivity is admitted to be one 
of the puzzles of the campaign. Na- 
poleon, whose motions vrere wont to 
be so swift, was now a laggard. . . . 
Every keen observer, fresh from the 
story of his earlier and even his latest 
campaigns, has noted with amaze- 
ment, with a kind of sorrowful 
astonishment, the inactivity of the 
most active of great captains. And, 
as we may note, in nothing was that 
inactivity shown so much as in his 
absolute neglect to obtain accurate 
information. The consequence of 
this neglect was twofold :— ist, it 
produced the greatest hesitation in 
the adoption of any decisive plan ; 
2d, it led him to issue orders to his 
executive pificers which it was im- 
possible they could execute. ... He 
did not obtain the information for 
himself, nor believe the intelligence 
sent in by Grouchy and Girard. . . . 
Hence the protracted halt on the 
morning of the i6th, hence the 
battle on the afternoon of that day, 
fruitful only in another bulletin. 
The long delay enabled Bliicher to 
occupy the position of Ligny, and 
Wellington to march a sufficient 
number of troops upon Quatre'Bras 
to frustrate, to repulse Ney." = Jo- 
mini, in his Summary, speaks in 
similar terms : — " Napoleon had to 
renoimce the idea of pushing on the 



15 th as far as Sombreffe and Quatre 
Bras, which were to be the pivots of 
all his after movements. But, to 
secure the success of his wisely com- 
bined plan, it behoved him to repair 
with activity and promptness, at day- 
break on the 1 6th, what had been left 
incomplete the night previous. Un- 
fortunately for him, this was not 
executed with that activity that or- 
dinarily distinguished him. We are 
forced to avow that the manner in 
which he employed this morning of 
the 1 6th will ever remain a problem 
for those who best understand it. 
. . . The Emperor of 1809 would not 
have failed to be in person at Fleurus 
by 8 o'clock in the morning, to judge 
of the state of things, and to verify 
the report Grouchy had sent him at 
6 o'clock, announcing the presence 
of strong Prussian columns that 
were debouching from Sombrefie on 
St. Amand." = The explanation of 
this incomprehensible thing is given 
in the Memoires of Segur, published 
in 1873: — "At Charleroi, on the 
morning of the battle of Fleurus 
[Ligny], the Emperor having sent 
for Reille, this general, on seeing 
him, was affected by a painful sur- 
prise. He found him, he told me, 
seated near the fireside, in a state of 
prostration, asking questions lan- 
guidly, and appearing scarcely to 
listen to the replies ; a prostration to 
which Reille attributed the inaction 
of one of our corps upon that day, 
and the long and bloody indecision of 
this first battle." (See note, pp. 31- 



58 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

possession of Prince Bernhard's brigade of Dutch- 
Belgians which had repelled the advance of Fire's 
lancers and Bachelu's infantry the evening before. 
In the early morning the other brigade (Bylandt's) of 
Perponcher's division began coming up from Mvelles, 
battahon by battalion, and presently Gen. Perponcher 
himself arrived and commenced an advance to recover 
the ground lost on the previous day. As his men were 
driving in the French outposts, the Prince of Orange 
rode in from Braine-le-Comte, and taking the command, 
continued the skirmish until his troops came upon the 
Prench supports at the Heights of Frasnes, and the 
action ended with the Prince establishing his line within 
less than a mile of the village. The Duke of Welhng- 
ton with his staff — who had left Brussels at 8 o'clock — 
next came upon the ground and reconnoitred the 
enemy, whom he found motionless at Frasnes and 
apparently not in great strength. Having formed the 
opinion that nothing serious was to be apprehended in 
this quarter, and receiving information that the mass of 
the French army was moving upon the Prussian posi- 
tion, the Duke rode off to confer with Blticher.^^ He 

^^ Oharras — observing tliat "some self and soldiers for tlie attainment 

writers have represented Wellington of so important an object. Oonfid- 

as reaching Quatre Bras thoroughly ing in this valorous lieutenant, the 

agitated and wild {tout emu, tout Duke of Wellington took his way 

effare) " — made inquiries of an officer along the highroad from Brussels to 

who at this time accompanied the Namur, in order to consult with 

Prince of Orange. The officer said, Marshal Bliicher." The degree of 

" He was as cold as ice— as if the confidence which the Duke placed 

French had been a hundred leagues in the Prince two years before was 

from us." Thiers makes the Duke shown by a letter which he wrote 

and the Prince of Orange arrive from Freuela, in Spain, to Lord 

together at Quatre Bras, instead of Bathurst, May i8, 1813: — "The 

five hours apart. = " The Prince of Prince of Orange appears to me to 

Orange," he proceeds, " had promised have a very good understanding, he 

the Duke of Wellington to make has had a very good education, his 

every effort for the defence of Quatre manners are very engaging, and he 

Bras, and even to sacrifice both him- is liked by every person who ap- 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS. 



59 



found the Field Marshal, with Gneisenaii, in the wind- 
mill of Bussy, between Ligny and Bry, studying the 
French dispositions for attack in the plain below them 
and on the heights beyond. These confirmed his im- 
pression that Napoleon purposed exerting his strength 
against the Prussians ; and he ofiered to assist them 
either by bringing his troops in their rear to act as a 
reserve, or by joining their right and falling upon the 
left flank of the French. Gneisenau preferred the 
former plan, and the Duke, though he thought other- 
wise, assented ; and turned back to Quatre Bras with 



Quatre 
Bras. 

June i6. 



proaches liim : such a man may "be- 
come anything ; but, on the other 
hand, he is very young, and can have 
no experience in business, particularly 
in the business of revolutions ; he is 
very shy and difSdent ; and I don't 
know that it will not be a disad- 
vantage to him to place him in a 
situation in which he is to be at the 
head of great concerns of this de- 
scription ; and that too much is not 
to be expected of him." The Prince 
was now two years older— that is 
22 years of age, — and "the business 
of revolutions " had made him heir 
apparent to the new kingdom of the 
Netherlands, and aspirant to the 
hand of the English Princess Char- 
lotte, and so a personage for whom a 
high position must be provided ; but 
it was not because of the Duke's 
" confiding in this valorous lieuten- 
ant " that the Prince was made com- 
mander of the 1st corps of the 
Anglo- Allied army. = The esteem in 
which he was held, at this period, 
by those about him is indicated by a 
passage in the Earl of Albemarle's 
Fifty Years of my Life, describing 
his presentation to him when the 
Allies entered Paris after Waterloo : 
— " ' The Prince of Orange,' writes 



Lady Charlotte Bury, ' is good- 
humoured and civil, but he has no 
dignity. The Flemings are surprised 
to see his English aides-de-camp run 
up to him and slap him on the back.' 
. . . My brother [Viscount Bury, 
then captain in the ist Foot Guards, 
and one of the Prince's staff] and 
Henry Webster . . . both admitted 
this cavalier behaviour to their chief, 
but added that it was entirely the 
Prince's ovni fault. He was a mere 
boy, delighting in rough practical 
jokes — but not complaining when 
he sometimes got a Roland for his 
Oliver." = On the whole, it seems 
clear that the position enjoyed by 
the Prince of Orange was not unlike 
that sought by the Three Kings of 
Chickeraboo in the Bah Ballads : — 

" Great Britain's navy scours the sea, 

And everywhere her ships they be. 

She'll recognize our rank, perhaps, 

When she discovers we're Royal 

Chaps. 

" If to her skirts you want to cling, 
It's quite sufficient that you're a 

king. 
She does not push inquiry far 
To learn what sort of king you are." 



6o 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Quatre 
Bras. 

June i6. 

2 A.M. 



3 A.M. 



the assurance, " Well, I will come, provided I am not 
attacked myself." ^^ 

Ney had left Napoleon late in the night without 
receiving any positive orders for the day's operations. 
Eiding at once to Gosselies, he ordered Eeille to assemble 
his two remaining infantry divisions — Bachelu's having 



^^ The interview of Welliugton 
and Bliicher in the windmill is thus 
related by Gleig : — " The Duke is 
said to have expressed with charac- 
teristic good-breeding, yet firmness, 
his disapproval of Prince Bliicher's 
arrangements : ' Every man ' (such 
is the substance of the words which 
the Duke is said to have spoken) 
' knows his own people best ; but I 
can only say that, with a British 
army, T should not occupy this ground 
as you do.' Bliicher, however, re- 
presented that his countrymen liked 
to see the enemy before they engaged 
him ; and adhered to the opinion that 
St. Amand and Ligny were the keys 
of his position. And the Duke was 
at once too wise and too much under 
the influence of a right feeling to 
press his point. ... It is said that 
the Duke, as he cantered back to his 
own ground, turned to a staff officer 
deeply in his confidence, and said, 
' Now mark my words : the Prus- 
sians will make a gallant fight ; for 
they are capital troops and well com- 
manded ; but they will be beaten. 
I defy any army not to be beaten 
placed as they are, if the force that 
attacks be such as I suppose the 
French under Bonaparte are.' " Gleig 
repeats substantially this same story 
in a note to his translation of Brial- 
mont. Hooper gives this variation : 
— " Lord Hardinge, then Sir Henry, 
had been requested by Bliicher to 
proceed to Quatre Bras and solicit 



some assistance from the Duke. ' I 
set out,' he says, ' but I had not pro- 
ceeded far when I saw a party of 
horse coming toward me, and, ob- 
serving that they had short tails, I 
knew at once that they were Eng- 
lish, and soon distinguished the 
Duke. He was on his way to the 
Prussian headquarters, thinking they 
might want some assistance; and 
he instantly gave directic>ns for a 
supply of cavalry. " How are they 
forming ? " he inquired. " In column, 
not in line," I replied ; " the Prussian 
soldier, Bliicher says, will not stand 
in line." "Then the artillery will 
play upon them, and they will be 
beaten damnably," was the comment 
of the Duke.' " StiU another version 
is given by Sir Edward Oust, in his 
Annals of the Wars of the Nineteenth 
Century : — " After parting from 
Bliicher at the windmill of Bry, he 
[Wellington] met Gen. Gneisenau, 
and ventured to point out to him 
that the force collected at the ex- 
treme right of the position appeared 
scarcely sufficient for its defence. 
The chief of the staff' happened to be 
gifted with a considerable share of 
self-sufiiciency, and treated the Eng- 
lish General's criticism with indiffer- 
ence. When, however, the Prussian 
Quartermaster-General rode away, 
Wellington, turning to Hardinge, 
. . . said, ' I fear you fellows will 
get well thrashed there when the 
French advance.' " 



Bras. 



June i6. 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS. 6 I 

already gone forward, and Girard having remained near Quatre 
rieurus, whither he had pnrsued the Prussians — and to 
advance to Frasnes. Thither he proceeded himself and 
attempted to get what information could be had as to 
the number and position of the enemy, and also of his 
own regiments and their commanders, of which he as 
yet knew Httle. While Col. Heymes, the only staff 
officer who had accompanied him to the front, was 
preparing this return by going from regiment to regi- 
ment, the Marshal sent messengers to Marchiennes with 
earnest instructions to expedite the march of D'Erlon, 
who ought to have joined him the day before, and then 
proceeded to make a personal reconnoissance of the 
enemy and his movements. Finding before him the 
Prince of Orange with a whole Dutch-Belgian division, 
he sent an officer to report to the Emperor that he was 
confronted by masses of men. At this time he received 
his first despatch of the day from the Emperor, stating 
that Kellermann's cavalry corps had been ordered to 
Gossehes to his support instead of the cavalry of the 
Guard, and asking information as to the enemy's strength 
and his own.^^ A subsequent order, together with a 

^* The orders sent Ney on this these can be ascertained. Their full 

day have been so misrepresented, and text (in French) will be found in 

bear so materially upon his military Siborne, chapter v. and Appendices 

conduct, that it is best to summarize XVI, XVII, XX, XXI, XXII. 
them, with their dates, so far as 

Sent from Order. Received 

Headquarters _ by Ney. 

8 AM. 1st Oi'der. From Soult, Major General, at Charleroi to 

Ney, — Kellermann, with the 3d corps of cavalry, has 
been ordered to march to Ney's support. Lefebvre- 
Desnouettes's cavalry of the Guard is to rejoin the Im- 
perial Guard. Has D'Erlon's corps j oined him ? What 
are the exact positions of D'Erlon's and Reille's coi-ps, 
and of the enemy ? 

9 A.M. (?) 2(1 Order. From Soult. — Ney is to combine D'Erlon's, 

Reille's, and Kellermann's corps. With them to take 
position at Quatre Bras. To reconnoitre the roads to 




62 QUATRE^BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

letter dictated by the Emperor, instructed him to 
advance with D'Erlon's and Eeille's infantry corps and 

Okdee. 

Sent from Received 

Headquarters. by Ney. 

Brussels and Nivelles, ''from which the enemy is 
probably retiring." To establish a division of cavalry 
at Genappe, and another at Marbais to cover the in- 
terval between SombrefFe and Qiiatre Bras. The 
Emperor is going to SombrefFe. Grouchy, with 2 in- 
fantry and 3 cavalry corps, will occupy Gembloux . 1 1 A.M. 

9 A.M. (P) ^d. Letter from Napoleon to Ney, written after the 
2(1 Order, hut received first. — An amplification of 
Soult's (2d) official order, '' but I wish to write you in 
detail, because it is of the highest importance." Napo- 
leon, after taking Fleurus, will push on to Gembloux, 
when he "«nll decide upon his further operations, " per- 
haps at 3 P.M., perhaps this evening." Ney by that 
time to be ready to march upon Brussels, with Napoleon 
and the Guard : " I wish to be at Brussels to-morrow 
morning." Ney's wing of the army now consists of 
4 divisions of Reille's corps, 2 divisions of light cavalry, 
and 2 of Kellermann's cavalry, which ought to amount 
to 45,000 or 50,000 men. " You see sufficiently the 
importance of taking Brussels. ... A movement so 
prompt and so abrupt (brusque) will isolate the Eng- 
lish army from Mons, Ostend, etc. I desire your dis- 
positions to be so made that at the first order your 8 
divisions shall be able to march rapidly and without 
obstacle upon Brussels." . . . . , .11 a.m. 

10 A.M. i\th Order. From Soidt, in ansiver to Ney's dispatch 
that the enemy loere jM'esent in force. — Unite the corps 
of D'Erlon, Reille, and Kellermann, " who starts in- 
stantly to join you. With this force you can deliver 
battle and destroy all the enemy's force that can be at 
hand. Bliieher was yesterday at Namur, and it is not 
possible that he has sent troops to Quatre Bras ; so you 
have only to do with what comes from Brussels." 
Grouchy is about to move on Sombreffe (Liguy), and 
the Emperor is setting out for Fleurus. . . 11.30 A.M. 

2 P.M. ^th Order. From Soult, at Fleurus. — The Prussians have 
drawn up a few troops {un cordis des troupes') between 
SombrefFe and Bry. Grouchy will attack them at 2.30. 
Ney is to attack whatever is before him and drive it 
off vigorously, then to wheel toward the right column 
and aid in " enveloping " the Prussians. If the Em- 
peror pierces them first, he will manoeuvre toward Ney. (?) 5 p.m. 



Bras. 
June i6. 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS. 63 

Kellermann's cavalry upon Quatre Bras, to push recon- Quatre 
noissances on the roads clivergmg thence, to estabUsh a 
division with some cavalry at Genappe, and another at 
Marbais to cover the interval between Quatre Bras and 
Sombreffe. The Emperor further explained in his letter 
that, after disposing of the Prussians on his right — 
which he spoke of as an easy task, allowing probably 
for the presence of Zieten's corps only — it was his 
intention to push on to Brussels, and that he desired 
Ney to be prepared to join him promptly in this move- 
ment, " perhaps at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, perhaps 
in the evening," as he desired to reach Brussels in the 
morning. The force placed under JSTey's command the 
Emperor estimated at from 45,000 to 50,000 men. Ney's 
present force, however, was less than 10,000 men ; and 
he immediately sent back orders to D'Erlon and Eeille 
to come forward, D'Erlon to take post at Frasnes and 
send one division to Marbais, while Eeille was to advance 
to Genappe. Scarcely had he sent off these orders when 
a despatch was brought him from Eeille, who said — 
dating at Gosselies, 10. 1 5 a.m. — that he had just received "-30 a.m. 
a message from Girard, who was still near Fleurus, that 
heavy masses of the Prussians were taking ground in 
that part of the field ; and that in consequence of this 

Sent from Order. Eeceived 

Headquarters. hj Ney. 

3.15 P.M. 6th Order. From Soult, beyond Fleurus. — The battle is 
being waged botly. Ney is to " manoeuvre instantly 
so as to envelop the Prussian right and fall upon his 
rear. Their army is lost, if you act vigorously : the 
fate of France is in your hands. ... Do not hesitate 
an instant." 6 p.m. 

Comparison of these orders with the further than t(T say that Ohesney and 

events of the day as they actually Charras thoroughly demolish the dis- 

occurred will entirely dispel the ingenuous suppressions and perver- 

generally propagated idea that Ney sions by which Thiers and the Napo- 

lost the day through irresolution or leonists try to save the Emperor's 

sluggishness or an omission to use reputation at the expense of the 

" his superior force." The contro- Marshal's. 
versy cannot be entered upon here 



64 QUATKE BRAS, IJGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Quatre intelligence — for the proposed advance must bring his 

^'— right flank dangerously near the enemy, — he would 

hold his men in readiness to march, but would not 
move until further orders from Ney. The Marshal, 
who had just received Napoleon's order to unite the 
three corps and attack the force before him — these 
orders (the 4th) being in response to his own despatch 
stating that the enemy were before him in strength,^ — 
again sent back, summoning Eeille and D'Erlon to 
support him at once. Eeille had anticipated this 
II A.M. message, and commenced his march to Frasnes, a 
distance which it took two hours to traverse, after 
which his troops had to form and deploy. Strengthened 
by Toy's and Bachelu's divisions, but anxious for 
D'Erlon's support also, Ney abstained from any vigorous 

1 P.M. attack, but began pushing forward his light troops. 

The Prince of Orange, meantime, had made ready to 
impede this advance and to hold Quatre Bras until the 
arrival of the reinforcements he was momentarily 
expecting from Brussels and Nivelles. This he was 
able to do until the time when Ney, calculating that 
D'Erlon's corps must be so close at hand that the sound 
of artillery would bring him quickly into action, ordered 

2 P.M. the attack in force with which the actual battle began. ^^ 

^^ The hour of 2 p.m. is stated hy is again considered in connection 

Charras as that at which the battle with the alleged simultaneous open- 

hegan. " We fix it," he says, " from ing of the battle of Ligny (see note 

the Dutch reports and from English 52, page 95), which Oharras dates 

writers interested in contradicting at 2.30. = The forces on either side 

these. Reille,' he continues, refer- varied so much from time to time, 

ring to that general's Notice Histo- as successive reinforcements came 

rique sur les Mouvements du 2"^ Coiys up, that it is necessary to state them 

pendant la Campagne de 1815, " says at those intervals : — 
• toward 2 o'clock.' " This question 



: P.M.— 


French. 


Anglo-Belgian. 


Infantry 


■ 15,750 


. . 6,832 


Cavalry 


. . 1,865 


— 


Guns 


. . 38 


. . 16 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS. 



65 



The Prince of Orange, though compelled to give Battle of 



Quatre 



ground before the greatly outnumbering force which Bras, 



June 16. 
At 3.30 P.M. (after Picton, Van Merlen, and the Duke of Brunswick 2 p.m. 



came up)- 



Infantry 
Cavalry 
Guns 



Freneh 
15750 
1,865 
38 



Anglo-Belgian 
. 18,000 
2,004 
28 



At 4.30 (?) P.M. (after Kellermann came up) — 

Infantry . . .15,750 . . .1 

Cavalry . . . 3,765 . . . I as before. 

Guns ... 44 ... J 

At 5 P.M. (after Alten came up) — 

Infantry . . • i5j75o . . . 24,234 

Cavalry . . .5,165 . . . 2,004 

Guns ... 50 ... 40 

At 6.30 P.M. (after Cook and the Brunswickers came up) — 
Infantry . . . ] ... 29,639 

Cavalry . . . I as before . . , 2,004 
Guns ... ... 68 



All these figures except those for 
2 P.M. are in excess of the actual 
number of fighting men, because the 
succeeding statements are got by 
adding the number of each reinforce- 
ment to the number previously in 
the field, without allowance for 
killed and wounded. In the case of 
the Anglo- Allied army the cavalry 
was absolutely worthless, and the 
Dutch-Belgian infantry — 7,500 in 
number, — of little service at the out- 
set, deserted wholly as the action 
became serious; so that both these 
items may fairly be deducted from 
Wellington's strength. =Ney's force 
has been grossly overstated. Never 
exceeding 2 1 ,000 men after all rein- 
forcements had arrived, its strength 
is put by the earlier English writers, 
Lockhart for instance, at 45,000. 
At a much later day Alison wrote 
of the English force at 2 p.m. that 
"their whole force, with the Bel- 
gians, did not exceed at that time 



20,000, all infantry, and Ney had more 
than double the number of troops, of 
whom 5,000 were cavalry, with 116 
guns." Alison's whole account of 
this battle, in his first edition, is a 
marvel in its way. It is comprised 
in three paragraphs, the first of 
which has six sentences : of these 
six, four are wholly incorrect, con- 
taining no less than eleven material 
misstatements of fact. = A work in 
which accurate statements on such a 
point ought to be found — The Netv 
American Cyclopcedia, edition 1863, 
article Waterloo — puts Ney's force at 
40,000; says that he made his attack 
" after fatal hesitation ; " and adds 
that D'Erlon's corps, " through Ney's 
misapprehension of Napoleon's orders, 
was kept marching throughout the 
whole day, between the two French 
armies, without rendering assistance 
to either." The revised edition of 
the Cgclopcsdia (1876) omits the re- 
mark about D'Erlon's march, but re- 



F 



66 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 

Quatre 

15ras. 

June 1 6. 



moved upon him, was anxious to hold if possible the 
line of heights crossing the Charleroi road at right 
angles about three-quarters of a mile south of Quatre 




Bras. At three points along these heights — the village of 
Piermont on his left, the farm of Gemioncourt adjoining 
the Cliarleroi road in his centre, and the wood of Bossu 
on his right — he gathered troops enough to make a stand 



peats the other two misstatements. 
= Charras has gone into these figures 
very carefully as to the French, and 



Infantry 
Cavalry 



Bachelu's division 
Foy's division 
Fire's division 



varies materially from Siborne. He 
states Ney's strength at 2 o'clock — 

. 9 battalions 4,103 men. 
. 10 „ 4,788 „ 

1,865 „ 



Ney's first reinforcement, Charras saySj was at 3 o'clock, as follows : — 
Infantry — Guillemiuot's (Jerome's) division . . 7,819 men 

Kellermann, according to Charras, did strength), whereas Siborne gives a 

not come up until after 6 p.m., and strength equal to that of two brigades, 

then brought only I of his 4 brigades Charras, no doubt, is correct. (See 

(of which Charras does not give the note 45, p. 84.) 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS. 



^1 



when his general hne was forced back thus far. The Battle of 
French had pushed the Dutch troops into the wood ; a Bras/^ 
part of Bacheki's division was well advanced toward june i6. 
Piermont ; and, though a Dutch battalion had suc- 
ceeded in holding Gemioncourt against several attacks, 
the Prince's position had become extremely critical and 
its tenure almost hopeless, when he saw on the ele- 2.30 p.m. 
vated ground behind Quatre Bras the scarlet masses of 
English reinforcements advancing by the Brussels road. 
This was Picton's 5 th infantry division, consisting of 
Kempt's 8th and Pack's 9th British brigades, accom- 
panied by Best's 4th Hanoverian brigade. Leaving 
Quatre Bras on their right, the division moved down 
the JSTamur road and were drawn up along it, — the 
leading regiment, the 95th, having been hurried 
forward to retain, if possible, possession of Piermont.^^ 



3 P-M- 



^^ Picton's was the first division of 
the reserve to march from Brussels, 
vphich it had left about 2 a.m. But 
WelHngton still retained so much of 
his doubt about his safety on his 
right, that he ordered it to halt at 
Waterloo until he could acquaint 
himself v^ith the condition of things 
at the front, and decide whether to 
direct it upon Quatre Bras orNivelles. 
During its halt the division was 
passed by the Brunswick troops, 
which kept on as far as Genappe, 
where they halted until overtaken 
by Picton. The latter's orders to 
move upon Quatre Bras reached him 
about 12 o'clock, and enabled him to 
arrive barely in time to avert the 
loss of that position, — an event which 
must certainly have taken place had 
Reille's two divisions reached Ney 
half an hour earlier. = A succession 
of similarly opportune reinforcements 
throughout this day illustrated the 



wisdom of the Duke's pohcy of put- 
ting off everything until the last 
moment. A specimen of its conse- 
quences is given in the journal of 
Capt. Mercer, already quoted. He 
had been careful to provide the ra- 
tions and forage for the men and 
horses of his battery, as well as 
waggons and drivers for their trans- 
portation. But the farmers had 
begged for their waggons, that they 
might get in their ripening crops, 
and Mercer assented, upon the com- 
mune authorities becoming respon- 
sible for their prompt return when 
wanted. Mercer was roused early 
in the morning of the i6th by orders 
to march instantly to Enghien : he 
was obliged to set off without his 
provision train or food for his ani- 
mals, and only recovered it after the 
battle of Waterloo — when most of 
the horses were dead. Reaching 
Enghien and finding no further 



J 2 



68 



QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 



Battle of 

Quatre 

Bras. 

June 1 6. 



The Duke of Wellington— who had returned from his 
meeting with Bliicher just before Picton's arrival — 
ordered up a British regiment to hold Gemioncourt and 
its enclosures, which were still defended by a Dutch 
battahon led by Perponcher and the Prince of Orange ; 
but the French directed a destructive artillery fire 
upon the Dutch, while their light troops carried the 
farm before the English aid could arrive ; and Gemion- 
court thenceforward became the centre of the French 
position.^'' Van Merlen's light brigade of Dutch-Belgian 
cavalry, who had just entered the field, advanced in 
support of their retreating countrymen ; but they were 
charged and routed by Pire's lancers, who pursued 
them along ilie highroad toward Quatre Bras, whither 
the fugitives carried with them Wellington himself, 
who, however, succeeded in checking their flight 
behind the cross-roads, re-forming them, and getting 
them back to the front .^^ The Dutch infantry, mean- 



orders, Mercer applied to General 
Vandeleur, commander of a brigade 
in the cavalry corps to wliicli his 
battery was attached, for instructions 
where to go. " Whether naturally 
a savage," Mercer observes, " or that 
he feared committing himself, I 
know not ; but Sir Ormsby cut my 
queries short with an asperity totally 
uncalled for. ' I know nothing about 
you, sir ! I know nothing at all 
about you ! ' ' But you will, per- 
haps, have the goodness to tell me 
where you are going yourself .^ ' ' I 
know nothing at all about it, sir ! I 
told you already I know nothing at 
all about i/ou!^" Left to his own 
lights, Mercer moved eastwardly 
until he fell in with Sir Hussey 
Vivian, another brigadier of the 
same corps, and joined his hussars, 
moving at all speed toward the can- 



nonade now heard from Quatre Bras, 
where they arrived after nightfall 
and the close of the battle. 

^" It would seem to be at this 
period of the battle that the incident 
occurred thus related by Thiers : — 
" The brilliant Prince of Orange, an- 
noyed by their fire, had the hardi- 
hood to attempt to capture our bat- 
teries. He endeavoured to commu- 
nicate his courage to the battalion 
protecting his artillery, and lead 
them against our cannon. Whilst 
he headed the charge, waving his 
hat, Gen. Pire sent forward one of 
his regiments, which, attacking the 
battalion in flank, drove it back, un- 
horsed the Prince, and very nearly 
made him prisoner." 

^^ Charras — who repaid the hos- 
pitality of the Belgians in alFording 
him a refuge from the persecutions 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BEAS. 69 

while, had been forced to abandon three of their guns, Batttie of 
and follow their comrades into the wood of Bossu, into Bras, 
which the pursuing French also penetrated and con- June 16. 
tinned during the remainder of the action to dispute 
its possession. On their extreme right also the French 
had established themselves in Piermont, anticipating 
the English regiment sent to hold it ; but they failed 
in an attempt to push across the Namur road and take 
a thicket just in advance, their possession of which 
would have cut off communication between the English 
and Ligny. Thus Ney's position had become well 
established along the line which the Prince of Orange 
had desired to hold — his extreme left occupying the 
southern portion of the wood of Bossu, his centre at 
Gemioncourt, his right secure in Piermont, though 
never able to press beyond it. All along his front ran 
a narrow valley bordered on each side by hedgerows 
that gave shelter to the skirmishers who preceded his 
columns of attack, while the plateau back of Gemion- 

of Napoleon III, by glorifying their battery was nearly annihilated. The 

share in this campaign — describes dragoons sought vainly to break 

the performance of their cavalry at down this vigorous blow by resuming 

this juncture. Van Merlen, he says, the charge of the hussars. After a 

had a Dutch regiment of hussars and lively encounter, in which they min- 

one of Belgian light dragoons ; with gled boldly with their adversaries, 

the former of which, at the command they turned bridle, and galloped to 

of the Prince of Orange, he charged rally in the rear of Quatre Bras. 

two French battalions, which were They were not again to form line 

supporting their skirmishers, while during the day, for, unfortunately, 

the hussars were to be supported by an English battalion, deceived by the 

artillery and by the Belgian dra- similarity of their uniform to that of 

goons. " The attempt," says Char- our [the French] chasseurs, greeted 

ras, " was not fortunate. The them with a murderous volley as 

[French] Colonel de Faudras charged they approached the Namur road." 

upon the hussars with the 6th chas- Charras here follows Gen. Perpon- 

seurs, followed by the 5th lancers ; cher's report in the Belgian War 

put them to rout ; scattered next the Office. The incident of the mistaken 

supporting infantry ; dispersed and uniform reappears henceforth with 

sabred the artillery, of which one wearisome frequency. 



70 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of court afforded a commanding situation for Triis well- 
bI^T^ served artillery. = Wellington, on the north of the 
June i6. valley, had disposed of his forces thus : — his extreme 
left in the thicket opposite Piermont, near the passage 
of the Namur road over the valley ; next, toward the 
right, Kempt's and then Pack's brigade, formed along 
and in advance of the Namur road, carried on the line 
as far as Quatre Bras, supported by Best's Hanoverians 
in a second line ; and in Quatre Bras and in the wood 
of Bossu were the Dutch-Belgians. The timely arrival 
of the corps of the Duke of Brunswick, who closely 
followed Picton, enabled Wellington to strengthen his 
line throughout its whole extent, but particularly in 
the wood, where the approaching sound of the fire 
showed that the Dutch were giving ground before the 
advance of the French tirailleurs. The Duke of Bruns- 
wick himself, therefore, was requested to take up a 
position to the right-front of Quatre Bras, his left 
resting on the Charleroi road and his right communi- 
cating with Perponcher's division, part of which was 
deployed along the eastern skirt of the wood ; and the 
infantry thus advanced was supported by the Bruns- 
wick hussars and lancers, in their rear ; so that a check 
seemed provided against any such charge down the 
Charleroi road as that which had already scattered the 
Dutch horsemen. = The French, from the time of Picton's 
arrival, had directed against his infantry a heavy can- 
nonade in order to disturb its formation ; and now they 
drew up a battery on the heights west of Gemioncourt, 
from which, as well as from a cloud of skirmishers in 
advance, an incessant fire was poured into the Bruns- 
wickers ; so that these raw troops were sorely tried by 
the rapid succession of casualties in their ranks, and 
were only held to their duty by the example of firmness 
set by their Duke, who calmly and almost carelessly 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS. 7 1 

rode up and down in front of their line, smoking his Battle of 
pipe and giving his orders as imperturbably as if on Bms^^ 
parade. june i6. 

Ney had by this time perfected his arrangements 
for a general attack. Preceded by the strong line of 
skirmishers who had been for some time engaged with 
Picton's light troops in the valley, and supported by a 
most destructive artillery fire from the heights, two 
heavy columns of French infantry descended into the 
valley east of Gemioncourt. Wellington — seeing in 
what an isolated position the Brunswick corps would 
be left by this advance along their one flank and that 
in the Bossu wood on the other — determined not to 
await the attack, but to meet it. Eetaining only the 
92d regiment of Highlanders at their post on the 
Namur road at Quatre Bras, he -ordered Picton to 
advance. Both brigades moved forward in line, over- 
lapping and outflanking the heads of the French 
columns, and the opponents were rapidly nearing one 
another when the French fire slackened, their ranks 
hesitated, became disordered, and the British, bursting 
into a cheer, charged them with the bayonet and drove 
them, broken and routed, through the hedgerows and 
enclosures of the valley. On the English left one of 
Kempt's regiments (79th Highlanders) pursued the 
enemy up the opposite slope to his own position, and 
had to be recalled, disordered by its own success, to 
the general line now formed along the northern hedge 
row : on the right the 42 d Highlanders and 44th regi- 
ment approached nearly to Gemioncourt, in which, and 
behind the nearest hedges, the French sought shelter.^^ 

®^ The account in the text follows court at the bottom of the ravine, its 

English authorities, chiefly SiBorne. banks bordered by thick hedges, and 

Charras describes the charge thus : — a little beyond another ravine, less 

" To get at Picton's position, Bache- marked, but also furnished with 

lu had crossed the rivulet of Gemion- hedges impenetrable at many points. 



72 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

On the western side of the Charleroi road, meanwhile, 
things had gone very differently. The French battery 
on the Gemioncourt heights commanding the plain had 
stormed incessantly upon the Brunswick troops below, 
until their Duke — who, in his haste, had marched with- 
out his artillery — sent to Wellington for cannon, and 
was furnished with four pieces ; but in a few minutes 
two were dismounted and the other two disabled by the 
superior fire of the French. Now, too, there appeared 
along the edge of the wood of Bossu a battalion of 
French infantry in hne, supported by two columns of 
infantry, and this again by cavalry ; and at the same 
time cavalry began to move down the Charleroi road. 
The Duke of Brunswick, finding his hussar regiment 
cramped in its movements by the small space between 
the wood and the road, ordered it to cross the road 
and remain near Quatre Bras ready for action, while he 
put himself at the head of his lancers and charged the 
enemy's infantry ; but these replied with so hot a fire 

He passed these obstacles, but mth vines, and appeared along with them 

difEculty, and disorder resulted in on the opposite slope. But, arrived 

his columns. He had forced back there, he was fired upon at short dis- 

the English skirmishers, and had tance by the regiment forming 

reached the summit of the slope of Bachelu's left column, the io8th. . 

the second ravine, and was taking . . The English battalions are 

stand upon the plateau, when he re- checked ; and the lancers and chas- 

ceived a hail of balls and musketry, seurs, seizing the opportunity, fling 

almost at the muzzle, from Picton's themselves upon them and throw 

first line of six battalions, which, half them into disorder. The French 

reclining in the grain, finger on the line reforms under the protection of 

trigger, had waited the approach of this brilliant charge, and, in its turn, 

their adversaries. Under this terri- thrusts back the enemy, bayonet at 

ble fire, Bachelu's regiments — whose their back, into the ravine, and forces 

ranks were still deranged, and whose them to regain the plateau. But 

artillery could not protect them, be- Bachelu attempts no more to repass 

cause they were within its range — the rivulet. This first encounter 

wavered and hesitated. Picton saw with the British soldiers had been 

it, and, prompt to resolve as to exe- very bloody. The ravines and their 

cute, charged them with the bayonet, borders were covered with dead and 

threw them.back beyond the two ra- wounded, blue coats and red." 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS. 



n 



that the lancers were dispersed and sought refuge in Battle of 
Quatre Bras. Finding himself overborne by numbers, Bras, 
the Duke now attempted to withdraw his infantry June i6. 
toward that of the English beyond the road ; but the 
Trench infantry pursued closely, the storm of round shot 
tore through the column, and the approaching cavalry 
completed the dismay of these raw troops, and they 
broke and fled, while their Duke, gallantly attempting 
to rally them, was struck from his horse, mortally 
wounded.^*^ To cover their retreat and at the same time 



^° The Duke of Brunswick was 
struck by a musket-ball which entered 
his right wrist, and passed diagonally 
through his body. He was raised 
by the single staff officer with him, 
and carried by some of his soldiers 
across the Oharleroi road to the rear 
of the Allied line. Here he revived 
sufficiently to ask for his second in 
command, and for some water, but 
none could be had. No surgeon 
could be found, until the approach 
of the fighting necessitated his being 
carried stiU further to the rear, 
where the staff-surgeon of the corps 
on examination found that he was 
already dead. — For years before the 
opening of this campaign, the Duke 
and his troops had received much at- 
tention in England. The Earl of 
Albemarle, describing his being pre- 
sented to the Duke by the niece of 
the latter, the Princess Charlotte of 
England, says : — " Early in the year 
[1809] the Duke entered into a treaty 
with the Court of Vienna, engaging 
to bring into the field 2,000 men to 
act in concert with the Austrian 
Emperor against Napoleon. ^ He 
soon succeeded in raising a corps of 
1,200 men, principally university 
students, whom hatred of a foreign 
yoke had rallied round his standard. 



In token of the disasters that had 
befallen him and his house, and of 
his resolve to avenge the insult 
offered to his dying father, or to die 
in the attempt, he clothed his little 
army in black, and as if these dusky 
habiliments were not sufficiently ex- 
pressive of his feelings, he gave them 
a death's-head and cross-bones as the 
sole device on their arms and accou- 
trements. Scarcely had he taken 
the field when the armistice, which 
followed the defeat of the Austrians 
at Wagram, left him in the heart of 
Germany without an ally." He then 
fought his way to the coast and to 
an English squadron that took him 
and his men to England. Lord Al- 
bemarle describes him as being, in 
1 809, " a sad and somewhat stern- 
looking man, with sunken eyes and 
bushy eyebrows, and — what was 
then seldom seen in England — a pair 
of mustaches." At the opening of 
the campaign of 181 5, the "Black 
Brunswickers " again came into pro- 
minence, and Sir Augustus Frazer, 
in a letter dated Brussels, May 22, 
sent home this description of them : 
— '• I have just returned from a re- 
view at Vilvorde of the Brunswick 
troops: they made a very fine ap- 
pearance. The Duke of Brunswick 



74 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of to clieck the advance of the French cavalry down the 
Bras.'^ Charleroi road, the Brunswick hussars were ordered 
June i6. forward from Quatre Bras. Disordered at the outset 
by a stragghng fire on their right flank from the still 
advancing French infantry, they quailed before the 
rapid onset of the chasseurs in their front, and, without 
striking a blow, turned and fled toward Quatre Bras, so 
closely pursued by Fire's men that, to the English regi- 
ments on the east of the road, both friend and foe 
appeared, during the hurried moment of their sweeping 
by, to constitute a single body of Allied cavalry, and 
only a few of the old soldiers of the 42 d and 44th 
regiments discovered the truth in time to direct an 
oblique fire upon the passing flank of the French. The 
head of Fire's column dashed on in hot pursuit of the 
Brunswickers toward Quatre Bras, receiving, as they 
passed the 9 2d Highlanders, a staggering volley, that 
caused most of the squadrons to draw back and retire 
in good order ; but the impetus of the leaders carried 
them on — almost riding down the Duke of Welhngton, 

was at tlieir head. The troops cou- shot through the breast while lead- 

sisted of a regiment of hussars, 2 ing a charge at Auerstadt, on the 

squadrons of lancers, 2 corps of rifle- bloody day of Jena, nice years before, 

men, 7 battalions of infantry, a troop — caused certain poetical tributes to 

of horse artillery, and a battery of be paid to his memory, as by Byron 

artillery — in all about 7,000 men. in Childe Harold (page 415) ; but 

. . . The Brunswickers are all in these were comparatively few and 

black, the Duke having, in 1809, reserved, as his personal character 

when the Duchess died, paid this tri- was bad. The absence of his name 

bute of respect to the memory of his from Scott's Field of Watei-loo is 

wife. There is something romantic conspicuous, both because that poem 

in this. They are to change their uni- contains a necrological list for Quatre 

form when they shall have avenged Bras, and because of the conspicuous 

themselves on the French for an in- manner in which Scott had previously 

suit offered to the remains of the rendered poetical homage to the 

Duke's father. Is this chivalry, or father (see page 433). Southey's 

barbarity ? " = The Duke's death in reference to the Duke's death will 

battle, as so many of his house had be found in note 77, page 136. 
fallen — notably his father, who was 



SECOND DAY — QUATEE BRAS. 75 

who escaped by calling upon the nearest of the High- Battle of 
landers to he down in the ditch lined by that regiment, Bras, 
and leaping his horse over them, — and they dashed in June i6. 
among the houses of Quatre Bras, cutting down the 
fugitives and stragglers who had sought refuge there, 
until they became aware of their isolated j)osition. 
Singly and in knots they then endeavoured to ride back, 
breaking from the rear through the line of the 92d ; 
but few, if any, escaped; and an officer of chasseurs 
who rode upon Wellington, then in rear of the High- 
landers, had his horse killed under him and was shot 
through both feet, just as he was about reaching the 
Duke. The rearmost portion of the attacking column 
had not partaken in this headlong dash, but, as they 
passed beyond the flank of the two foremost of the 
British regiments, wheeled sharply to the right, in 
order to charge them in rear. The 42 d Highlanders — 
the nearest and the first to recognise that the enemy's 
horse were upon them — hastened to form square ; but 
before the rear face could be completed the lancers 
penetrated it, but not to destroy it, for to a man they 
were either bayoneted or taken ; while the completed 
square beat off all further assaults. The 44th had a 
still more singular experience, for the French were 
close upon their rear before their approach was sus- 
pected, and there was no time to form square. " Lt.-Col. 
Hamerton . . . instantly decided upon receiving them 
in line. . . . Hamerton's words of command were, 
' Eear rank, right about face ! ' — ' Make ready ! ' — (a 
short pause to admit of the still nearer approach of 
the cavalry.) — ' Present ! ' — ' Fire ! ' The effect pro- 
duced by this volley was astonishing. The men, aware 
of their perilous position, doubtless took a most delibe- 
rate aim at their opponents, who were thrown into 
great confusion. . . . The lancers now commenced a 



76 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of flight toward the French position by the flanks of the 
Bras. 44th. As they rushed past the left flank, the oflacer 

June 16. commanding the hght company, who had very judi- 
ciously restrained his men from joining in the volley 
given to the rear, opened upon them a scattering fire ; 
and no sooner did the lancers appear in the proper 
front of the regiment, than the front rank began in its 
turn to contribute to their overthrow and destruction."*^ 
Thus ended Ney's first general attack. It had swept 
away the Dutch-Belgians and Brunswickers, but his 
veterans had made little impression upon the British 
regiments. It was at this juncture that Kellermann 
brought up the first of the promised reinforcements — 
Gen. L'Heritier's division, 1,900 strong, of heavy cavalry. 
The battle now assumed a singular phase — becoming 
one of superb artillery and cavalry against infantry of 
no less good a quality, but almost unsupported. For 
the demonstrated worthlessness of the Brunswick and 
Dutch-Belgian cavalry had shown English and French 
alike that no account whatever need be made of them ; 
the Alhed artillery was entirely over-matched by the 
superior position and quality of the French guns, which, 
for some time yet, were also nearly doubly numerous ; 
while the French infantry, in the absence of D'Erlon's 
corps, was so far absorbed by the operations on the 

*i The quotation is from Siborne, suddenly menaced and its flanks un- 

wlio is enthusiastic over the achieve- supported, to have instantly faced 

ment. " Never, perhaps," he com- only one rank ahout, to have stood 

ments, " did British infantry display as if rooted to the ground, to have 

its characteristic coolness and steadi- repulsed its assailants with so steady 

ness more eminently than on this and well-directed a fire that num- 

trying occasion. To have stood in bers of them were destroyed— this 

a thin two-deep line, awaiting and was a feat of arms which the oldest 

prepared to receive the onset of hos- or best disciplined corps in the world 

tile cavalry, would have been looked might have in vain hoped to accom- 

upon at least as a most hazardous plish." 
experiment : but, with its rear so 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS. ^^ 

extreme wings as to be of little avail in the principal Battle of 
struggle east of the Charleroi road. In this part of the Bras.^^ 
field the English infantry were subjected to a most de- Jui^TTe". 
structive artillery fire, the French gunners on the heights 
having got their range with a fatal precision that dealt 
destruction through their ranks, and only remitting their 
fire when their own cavalry moved to the charge. 
Kellermann's newly arrived horsemen, united with those 
already in the field, first swept down upon the two 
squares previously assailed, which received them with 
the same steadiness as before. Picton, seeing that suc- 
cour could come from no other source, took the unpre- 
cedented course of attacking cavalry with infantry, and, 
uniting the Eoyals and 28th regiment, moved toward a 
point where he could throw in a flank fire in support of 
the 44th, when he suddenly formed square just in time 
to receive a body of lancers who dashed upon him 
through a field of rye so tall as to conceal their ap- 
proach from men on foot. A like advance and forma- 
tion was made by the regiments to the left, until a chain 
of squares connected Quatre Bras with the 95th regiment 
still in the woods opposite Piermont on the extreme left, 
the Hanoverians holding the line of the Namur road in 
the rear. Upon these squares the French horse de- 
livered charge after charge, driving in upon one, two, 
or all of the faces simultaneously ; making a rush where- 
ever they hoped to find a weak point, and riding through 
and through the intervals, until chasseurs, lancers, and 
cuirassiers became so inextricably mingled that they 
were obhged to retire and re-form, without having suc- 
ceeded in breaking a single square. But no sooner had 
the cavalry drawn ofi" than the tremendous cannonade 
began afresh, while a musketry fire was opened from 
the French light troops behind the hedgerows ; and, 
worse than all, it was discovered that the English had 



7S 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 

Quatre 

Bras. 

June i6. 



nearly exhausted their ammunition. Over and over 
this succession of onsets occurred, varied only by one 
unexpected charge in which a body of lancers cut down 
a Hanoverian battahon near the Namur road, but were 
driven back in disorder by other Hanoverians when 
they attempted to take the road itself. Along the 
Charleroi road also a heavy body of cuirassiers made a 
dash upon Quatre Bras, routing once more and finally 
the Dutch-Belgian horse ;^^ but they were checked 



*^ As this is the last appearance 
of the Dutch-Belgians at Quatre 
Bras — for the infantry part of them 
had by this time got themselves out 
of the Wood of Bossu — it may he 
well to follow them on their home- 
ward way. Siborne had this ac- 
count of them from officers of the 
1st British division: — "On a near 
approach to the field the latter fell 
in with various groups of Dutch- 
Belgian infantry retiring in great 
disorder and precipitation. Perceiv- 
ing that they were neither wounded 
nor dispossessed of their arms, they 
questioned some of them as to the 
cause of their retiring. From one 
party they received a reply that their 
commanding officer was killed, and 
therefore it was useless to remain ; 
from another, that they did not come 
there to fight, but merely to witness 
the advance of the French ; and 
from a third, that Napoleon would 
certainly be victorious, and that it 
would therefore be absurd to con- 
tend against him." For the reappear- 
ance of the Belgians in Brussels we 
must turn again to Vanity Fair, in 
whose pages Thackeray recounts the 
return of one of the warriors to 
his sweetheart in her own kitchen, 
on the evening of June'i6: — "As 
far as his regiment was concerned, 



this campaign was over now. They 
had formed a part of the division 
under the command of his Sovereign 
apparent, the Prince of Orange, and 
as respected length of swords and 
mustachios, and the richness of uni- 
forms and equipments, Regulus and 
his comrades looked to be as gallant 
a body of men as ever ti'umpet 
sounded for. — When Ney dashed 
upon the advance of the Allied 
troops, carrying one position after 
the other, until the arrival of the 
great body of the English army from 
Brussels changed the aspect of the 
conflict at Quatre Bras, the squadrons 
among which Regulus rode showed 
the greatest activity in retreating 
before the French, and were dis- 
lodged from one post and another 
which they occupied with perfect 
alacrity on their part. Their move- 
ments were only checked by the ad- 
vance of the British in their rear. 
Thus forced to halt, the enemy's 
cavalry (whose bloodthirsty obsti- 
nacy cannot be too severely repre- 
hended) had at length an opportunity 
of coming to close quarters with the 
brave Belgians before them; who 
preferred to encounter the British 
rather than the French, and at once 
turning tail rode through the Eng- 
lish regiments that were behind them, 



SECOND DAY — QUATEE BRAS. 



79 



and driven back in confusion by the 9 2d High- Battle of 
landers, still holding the ditch beside the road. Brat.*^ 



and scattered in all directions. The 
regiment in fact did not ezist any- 
more. It bad no headquarters. Re- 
gains found himself galloping many 
mUes from the field of action, en- 
tirely alone. . . . [In the kitchen in 
Brussels.'] His regiment had per- 
formed prodigies of courage, and 
had withstood for a while the onset 
of the whole French army. But they 
were overwhelmed at last, as was 
the whole British army by this time. 
Ney destroyed each regiment as it 
came up. The Belgians in vain in- 
terposed to prevent the butchery of 
the English. The Brunswickers were 
routed and had fled — their Duke was 
killed. It was a general debacle. He 
sought to drown his sorrow for the 
defeat in floods of beer. . . . Although 
Regulus had vowed that he was the 
only man of his regiment, or of the 
Allied army almost, who had escaped 
being cut to pieces by Ney, it ap- 
peared that his statement was incor- 
rect, and that a good number more 
of the supposed victims had survived 
the massacre. Many scores of Re- 
gulus's comrades had found their 
way back to Brussels, and — all agree- 
ing that they had run away — filled 
the whole town with the idea of the 
defeat of the Allies. The arrival of 
the French was expected hourly ; 
the panic continued, and preparations 
for flight went on everywhere. . . . 
Addresses were prepared, public 
functionaries assembled and debated 
secretly, apartments were got ready, 
and tricolored banners and triumphal 
emblems manufactured, to welcome 
the arrival of His Majesty the Em- 
peror and King. — The emigration 
Btill continued, and wherever families 



could find the means of departure, 
they fled. . . . Louis the Desired 
was getting ready his portmanteau 
[in Ghent], too. It seemed as if 
Misfortune was never tired of wor- 
rying into motion that unwieldy 
exile." Natural as it was for the 
English to aim bitter jests at the 
Belgians, they might bear in mind 
two things — 1st, that it was England 
which had supervised the creation of 
the mongrel Kingdom of the Nether- 
lands, greatly to the disgust of the 
subjects compelled to serve under 
it, and who had good grounds for 
thinking that it was none of their 
quarrel; and, 2d, that it was these 
same derided Dutch-Belgians who 
had held Quatre Bras against the 
French for a full day before a single 
English bayonet or sabre — thanks to 
the sagacious arrangements of the 
Duke, dining and ball-going in Brus- 
sels— r-had been moved to its defence. 
= At the time it was the fashion 
among the English — following the 
example of Wellington, who sup- 
pressed as far as possible all mention 
of the conduct of these troops — to 
extol the bearing of their Belgian 
allies. In Chm-les Qi'Malley, which 
echoed the popular sentiment of the 
day, we read of the position of things 
at the time Picton's division came 
up, " Bravely and gloriously as the 
forces of the Prince of Orange fought, 
the day, however, was not theirs." 
This curious attempt to pervert the 
truth is considered, in reference to 
the conduct of the Dutch-Belgians 
at Waterloo, in note 158, page 245. 
The fugitive French royalists had 
the same impressions. Bourrienne's 
Mcinoires contain a letter from the 



June 16. 



8o QUATEE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

Battle of As tliG result of this period of the battle — when the 

Quatre , . . r^ _, 

Bras. cavalry was again withdrawn, to re-iorm for another 

June i6. charge, and the batteries recommenced playing upon the 
^^'^^' squares, — the position of the English was critical in the 
extreme. On their right the wood of Bossu was almost 
wholly in the hands of the enemy, who was concentrat- 
ing there a force of infantry and artillery to turn their 
flank, seize Quatre Bras, and cut off their retreat to 
Brussels ; on their left they were already hard pressed 
by greatly outnumbering light troops from Piermont, 
evidently mustering for a serious attack on that flank 
also ; and in the centre, where their ammunition was 
almost expended and their ranks frightfully thinned by 
the pitiless cannonade, it was seen that a fresh attack 
from the cavalry was impending. Most fortunately for 
them, reinforcements were at hand — Gen. Alten, with 
Sir Colin Halkett's 5th British brigade and Kielman- 
segge's ist Hanoverian brigade, and accompanied by a 
British and a Hanoverian foot battery, each of six guns, 
— amounting in all to above 6000 men. Halkett — in 
answer to a message from Pack that his brigade was out 
of ammunition and must abandon its position unless im- 
mediately supported — sent the 69th British regiment to 
the eastern side of the Charleroi road, to support the 
remains of the 4 2d and 44th, now consolidated into a 
single battalion. With the rest of his brigade he moved 
into the space between the road and the Bossu wood, 
thus encouraging the Brunswick infantry to remain in 
that part of the field, which they were about abandon- 
ing precipitately. Kielmansegge's brigade strengthened 

Marquis de Bonn ay, Louis XVIII's loss as tlie letter says, Bonaparte and 

minister at Copenhagen, in ■which he his 80,000 men. You must excuse 

says of the news from Quatre Bras, me for not deploring the loss of the 

" The Prince of Orange must have Duke of Brunswick, who was not 

acquired great honour hy sustaining good for much except on the day of 

the shock and repulsing, with great battle." 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS, 8 1 

the wasted centre and the menaced left flank. Ney also Battle of 
had received a reinforcement, Gen. Eoussel's division of iras.*^ 
Kellermann's cavalry, 1400 strong ; but he was much ju^T^ 
impressed by his great inferiority in infantry since the 
Allies' last reinforcement ; and once more he sent back 
to D'Erlon a peremptory order to support him without 
a moment's delay. At the same time he prepared to 
follow up) his advantages at the wings by directing 
another general attack against the English centre, and 
for that ]Durpose massed his cavalry in great strength 
along both sides of the Charleroi road. Gen. Halkett 
had detected the preparations for this movement, and, as 
soon as he had completed the dispositions of his own 
brigade, rode forward to reconnoitre almost into the 
rear of Gemioncourt. The horse were already begin- 
ning to move when he galloped back and sent warning to 
Pack, and ordered his own 69tli regiment to prepare to 
receive cavalry — a warning which was also reinforced by 
the increased severity of the cannonade from the heights. 
" The 69th regiment was in the act of forming square, 
when the Prince of Orange rode up to it and asked 
what it was doing. Col. Morice replied that he was 
forming square in pursuance of the instructions he had 
received, upon which His Eoyal Highness remarked 
that there was no chance of the cavalry coming on, 
ordered him to re-form column, and to deploy into line. 
During this last movement a strong body of French 
cuirassiers, taking advantage of the surrounding high 
corn and of the circumstance of the regiment lying in a 
hollow, approached unperceived quite close to the spot, 
and, rushing suddenly and impetuously upon a flank, 
succeeded in completely rolling up the regiment, ridina^ 
along and over the unfortunate men, of whom great 
numbers were cut down, and in the midst of the con- 
fusion thus created captured and carried off one of the 

G 



82 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Bnttie of colours. . . . TliG ^otli reg-inieiit, wliicli had also been 

Quatre ^ O ' 

Bras. deployed into line by the orders of the Prince of 

June i6. Orange, most fortunately discovered in sufficient time 
the approach of cavalry (notwithstanding the extraor- 
dinary height of the rye, which greatly impeded all 
observation), formed square with remarkable rapidity, 
and, reserving their lire until the very last moment, 
they completely dispersed and drove off a body of Fire's 
lancers which had so suddenly come upon them." ^^ As 
to the regiments on the left, the incidents of previous 
charges were repeated, none of the squares yielding to 
the onset. The cuirassiers who had wrecked the 69th 
regiment moved on at the head of a mass of cavalry 
upon Quatre Bras ; but by this time the two lately 
arrived foot-batteries had taken their post on either side 
of the Charleroi road in front of the village, and just at 
this moment a battery of horse-artillery of the King's 
German Legion came up and wheeled into position at 
the intersection of the roads. " Two guns . . . were 
posted so as to bear directly upon the French column, 
and completely to enfilade the road ; and as the cuiras- 
siers approached with the undaunted bearing that be- 
tokened the steadiness of veterans and with the impos- 
ino- display that usually distinguished mailed cavalry, a 
remarkably well-directed fire was opened upon them : 
in an instant the whole mass appeared in irretrievable 
confusion ; the road was literally strewed with corses of 
these steel-clad warriors and their gallant steeds ; Kel- 
lermann himself was dismounted, and compelled, like 
many of his followers, to retire on foot." ^"^ 

*3 This and succeeding quotations uncovered, to avoid teing left on the 

otherwise unacknowledged are from field took hold of the bridles of two 

Sibnrne. cuirassiers, and returned thus sus- 

4-^ Thiers' version of this incident pended between two horses at full 

is that Ivellermanu, " being thrown gallop." 
from his horse, and with his head 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BE AS. 83 

Ney was engaged in the direction of this attack, Battle of 
and was impatiently awaiting the arrival of D'Erlon's Bms.'^ 
infantry to participate in it, when a messenger arrived june 16. 
bearing Napoleon's order (the 5th), dated at Fleurus, 5 p.m. (?) 
2 P.M., stating that his attack on the Prussian position 
would commence at 2.30, and directing JSTey to " drive 
off vigorously whatever might be before him," and 
bring his forces toward Ligny to aid in enveloping the 
Prussians. But Ney had thus far been anything but suc- 
cessiul in driving off what was before him, and, in the 
absence of D'Erlon, he could do little more than con- 
tinue the cavalry attacks which had already disordered 
Kellermann's ranks and seriously diminished their 
numbers. On his extreme right, where he had hoped 
to turn Wellington's flank, Kielmansegge's Hanoverians 
and a Brunswick battalion had now joined the British 
riflemen, and their combined force was steadily bearing 
back the French light troops from one enclosure to 
another and gaining ground in the direction of Pier- 
mont. On his left, however, the Marshal made, with 
the force he had been accumulating in the Bossu wood, 
a resolute push to seize the Charleroi road at the point 
where shelter was afforded by an isolated house with 
enclosures some distance in advance of Quatre Bras ; 
but the French were charged desperately by the 9 2d 
Highlanders, who emerged from their ditch along the 
road, dislodged the enemy, and, in spite of a wasting 
flank fire from the French horse-batteries, drove him 
back into the wood, which the surviving Highlanders 
also entered, to escape a charge of cavalry in their 
rear. Halkett's brigade, also, and the Brunswickers 
were now at hand to hold the part of the field between 
the road and the wood. = It was when he seemed thus 
checked throughout the length of his line that Key 
received the Emperor's most urgent order (the 6th) — 6 p.m. 



84 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 

Quatre 

Br.as. 

June i6. 



that sent from before Ligny at 3.15 p.m., announcing 
that the battle there was serious, that the fate of France 
was in Ney's hands, and enjoining him instantly to fall 
upon the flank and rear of the Prussians. ^^ The bearer 
of this order had proved superserviceable. He had 
met near Frasnes the head of the ist corps on its march 
to Quatre Bras — D'Erlon and his staff having ridden 
on in advance of his command, — and had taken upon 
himself to order, in the name of the Emperor, that its 
movement be directed upon Ligny. He then proceeded 
and, overtaking Count D'Erlon, explained to him what 
he had done and where the General would find the 
head of his corps. ^^ Ney thus learned that, instead of 



*^ The order of events detailed in 
the text has been almost wholly that 
given by. Siborne. Oharras makes 
the very important variation of de- 
ferring Kellermann's appearance in 
the field until this juncture. At 6 
o'clock, Charras says, Ney received 
Napoleon's 3. 1 5 p.m. dispatch, telling 
him that " the fate of France is in 
your hands " (see note 34, page 63). 
He thereupon sent for Kellermann, 
who brought up only one of his bri- 
gades, but left his 2d division and 
the dragoon brigade of the ist divi- 
sion — which, Charras says, were not 
in action, as has been generally re- 
presented. " As soon as Ney saw 
him [Kellermann], he galloped to 
him, and, maddened by the dispatch 
from Fleurus, said, wringing his 
hand convulsively : ' My dear Ge- 
neral, there must he a great effort 
here ; this mass of infantry must be 
forced. The fate of France is in your 
hands ; go ! I will support you with 
all Pire's cavalry.' This mission 
might have brought a frown to more 
than one of those men of iron, ac- 
customed to launch hurricanes of 



cavalry : it astounded, they say, Kel- 
lermann himself, the hero of Maren- 
go, the leader of many an onset of 
heroes ; but it did not daunt his 
heart." If Oharras is correct, the 
previous cavalry charges must have 
been made by Pire's horsemen only. 
■*^ This version of the order which 
caused D'Erlon's false march differs 
from that told by Siborne, and gene- 
rally accepted at the time he wrote, 
in 1844, — that there were two mes- 
sengers, one of whom bore the re- 
gular official order (Order 5 th, note 
34, page 62), the other (Col. Lau- 
rent, Siborne calls him) bringing, 
about the same time, " a pencilled 
note requiring the Marshal to detach 
the 1st corps toward St. Amand." 
Chesney, however, says, " Charras 
has examined the D'Erlon question 
fully in the light of the Documents 
Inedits, published by Ney's son, and 
has established on their evidence the 
fact that the corps was turned off 
by an excess of zeal on the part of 
an aide-de-camp, carrying the ori- 
ginal or duplicate of one of the ex- 
tant orders of Napoleon, that of a 



SECOND DAY — QUATKE BKAS. 



85 



the eight infantry divisions on whose support he had Battle of 



Quatre 



reckoned for his contest with Welhngton, he was hkely Bras, 



to have but three — since that of Girard and the four June 16. 
of D'Erlon had been taken from him. Instantly he sent 
after D'Erlon a peremptory order to return toward 
Quatre Bras with all speed. But it was already too 



quarter past 3 (Order 6th, page 63). 
No fresh order ever reached Ney for 
such an oblique movement as that 
made." Napoleon himself declares 
that no such order came from him, 
when — in Gen. Gourgaud's Napo- 
leon: Campagne de 1815, really Na- 
poleon's own narrative — he says of 
D'Erlon's approach to Ligny, "Na- 
poleon could assign no reason for 
such a movement. . . , The move- 
ments of the 1st corps are difficult 
to explain. Did Ney misunderstand 
the order to make, ivhen master of 
Quatre Bras, a diversion on the rear 
of the Prussians ? Or did D'Erlon, 
between Gosselies and Frasnes, hear- 
ing a hot cannonade to his right and 
none from Quatre Bras, conceive 
that he ought to move upon the 
cannonade, which he would have 
left behind him if he followed the 
main road onward ? " = The over- 
zealous aide-de-camp, according to 
Brialmont, Oharras, and Chesney, 
was Lab6doyere, not Laurent, as 
said by Siborne, who says, on a 
later page, of a messenger present 
at Ligny at about this same hour, 
" there is reason to believe that it 
was Gen. Labedoyere." D'Erlon's 
own account of his false march is 
thus quoted by Charras : — " About 
II or 12 o'clock Marshal Ney sent 
me an order to get my corps under 
arms and direct it upon Frasnes and 
Quatre Bras, when I should receive 
further orders. My coi-ps was in motion 



instantly ; and, after having directed 
the general who commanded the 
head of the column to use diligence, 
I went on to see what was passing 
at Quatre Bras, where ReiUe's corps 
appeared to be engaged. On the 
further side of Frasnes I met some 
generals of the Guard, when I was 
joined by Gen. Labedoyere, who 
showed me a pencilled note which 
he was carrying to Marshal Ney, and 
which enjoined the Marshal to direct 
my corps upon Ligny. Gen. Labe- 
doyere informed me that he had 
already given the order for this 
movement, changing the direction 
of my column, and he indicated to 
me where I could rejoin it. I at 
once took this route. . . , Had Gen. 
Labedoyere any business (tnission) 
to change the direction of my column 
before seeing the Marshal ? I think 
not." Heymes gives the same story, 
except that he makes Colonel Lau- 
rent the messenger, instead of Labe- 
doyere. The Duke of Elchingen, 
Ney's son, gives an incident which 
goes to show that the fault ori- 
ginated with the messenger, not with 
Napoleon : — •'' Some time after his 
return from St. Helena," he says, 
" Gen. Bertrand — who had the im- 
pressions of the Emperor, and was 
inspired by his ideas — said to me in 
a conversation on the aflfair of Quatre 
Bras, 'Why did the Marshal send 
D'Erlon to us at St. Amand ? ' " 



86 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

late, — for the lately balanced battle was now decided 
by the fresh forces which came up to Wellington's sup- 
port. From the direction of Brussels came two batta- 
lions of Brunswick infantry and the long-expected 
brigade of Brunswick artillery, which, added to the 
British and German batteries, produced a marked effect 
upon the now outnumbered French guns. Almost at 
the same time appeared on the Mvelles road General 
Cooke's ist British division, consisting of Maitland's 
ist and Byng's 2d brigades of Guards, above 4,000 men. 
The Prince of Orange galloped to meet them, and — this 
time giving the right order — directed them into the 
wood of Bossu, which the French had now filled almost 
to its northern boundary. The Guards went in with 
cheers, and fell upon the enemy with an ardour that 
bore all before it, the sharp incessant rattling of their 
musketry telling their countrymen beyond the wood 
of their steady progress through it, and animating them 
to renewed exertions. This determined advance knew 
no check until the French were driven thoroughly out 
of the wood, and the Guards even pursued them into 
the open ground beyond, but in a condition so totally 
disordered by the obstructions through which they had 
made their way that they were checked by the French 
reserves and artillery, and were obliged to fall back 
to re-form their ranks. Threatened by a body of French 
cavalry from the side of the Charleroi road, the Guards 
hurriedly fell into line in the order in which the men 
emerged from the wood, and in this rude formation 
advanced upon the French infantry in the plain, the 
Brunswick guard-battalion coming up from the rear to 
form in prolongation of their left. Before they could 
unite, the cavalry made a dash upon the left flank of 
the Guards, who, in consequence of their promiscuous 
array, were unable to form square. The men, equal 



SECOND DAY — QUATRE BRAS. 



87 



to the emergency, instinctively made for the ditch skirt- Battle of 
ing the wood on their right, hning it with surprising BraJi^^ 
rapidity and pouring a volley into the horse which jime 16. 
turned them back in confusion and drove them past 
the Brunswickers, now in square, who in turn delivered 
a fire upon their flank that drove them entirely from 
this part of the field. The shouts of triumph sent up 
by the British on the right were answered by their 
countrymen and allies on the far left, who had at last 
dislodged the French infantry from Piermont and its 
enclosures. They were taken up and re-echoed by the 
worn regiments in the centre line, that had borne the 
brunt of the battle, when Welhngton, . as night was 
falling, led them forward upon the French position. 
Ney saw the hoj)elessness of prolonging the contest, 
and withdrew his whole forces, falling back upon the 
heights of Frasnes.^^ Wellington occupied the position 



*'' Of the coming up of Cooke 
■with the Guards, Charras says : — 
" This deployment of forces would 
have determined any other than Ney 
on beating an instant retreat. He — 
the general of hard-fought days, of 
critical hours — he sought still to 
maintain his position. He was about 
to be compelled, nevertheless, to 
yield to the impossible. His artil- 
lery is now too feeble ; a charge of 
Pire's fails on the plateau ; Guille- 
minot gives ground under the pres- 
sure of the English Guards ; and, as 
if everything combined to thwart 
the intrepid Marshal, news comes 
that he can no longer count on 
D'Erlon. This unlooked-for intelli- 
gence, it is said, brought despair to 
the heart of this man, rudely tried 
as he had been by the most terrible 
crises of war ; and, under the cross- 
fire of the English batteries, in the 



midst of projectiles glancing about 
him, he was heard to cry, ' You see 
these balls ! I wish they had all 
entered my belly.' = He resigned 
himself to order a retreat all along 
his line. It was executed in good 
order, with the greatest firmness, 
disputing the field foot by foot, and 
so slowly that it took two hours to 
recede half a league. = Toward 9 
o'clock the action had wholly 
ceased." Though the mass of 
D'Erlon's corps was absent, a part 
of its cavalry, Brialmont says, came 
up in time (about 9 o'clock) to cover 
the retreat of Jerome's (or Guille- 
minot's) infantry, which Cooke's and 
Alten's brigades, under Wellington's 
direction, were endeavouring to 
follow up sharply; and thus the 
French were enabled to resume their 
morning's position without further 
disaster. 



88 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 

Quatre 

Bras. 

June i6. 



9 P.M. 



held and lost by the Prince of Orange in the opening 
of the battle — the wood of Bossu, Gemioncourt, and 
Piermont. 

After the battle had been lost, and as the armies 
were settling in their bivouacs, Gen. D'Erlon joined 
Ney with the ist corps.^^ 



Ligny. The position taken by Prince Bllicher after the 

Prussian retreat upon Fleurus was one which had 
previously been selected, and its whole ground sur- 
veyed, in anticipation of the very contingency which 
now arose. Its strategic importance — holding the north- 



■^^ The losses in killed, wounded, 
and missing of the British, Hano- 
verian, and Brunswick troops at the 
battle of Quatre Bras were 3,463 
(British 2,275, Hanoverians 369, 
Brunswickers 819) : the Dutch- 
Belgians were of course all " miss- 
ing," but their loss was called 1,000 ; 
and allowance for the corps which 
aggregated their losses for the whole 
campaign, not itemizing for this 
particular day, hrings up the total 
Anglo- Allied loss, as generally stated, 
to 5,200. The French loss was 4, 140 
(4,375 according to Charras). The 
severe treatment received by special 
British regiments is shown by the 
following figures: — -Pack's brigade, 
which endured the most of the 
French cavalry attacks, lost 788 men 
out of 2,173; the 92d Highlanders, 
originally 588 strong, lost 286, mostly 
in their charge from the Charleroi 
road across the plain to the wood of 
Bossu ; the 69th, the regiment ridden 
down in consequence of the officious 
meddling of the Prince of Orange, 
lost 152 out of 516; and of Mait- 
land's isfc brigade of Guards, who 



numbered 1,997 when they entered 
the wood, there fell during the brief 
remainder of the fight 514 men. Of 
the total British loss of 2,275, it i^ 
noteworthy that but 32 were " miss- 
ing." = Among the wounded on this 
day, though none but himself sus- 
pected it at the time, was Gen. 
Picton— who had magnificently sus- 
tained the reputation won in the 
Peninsular War as commander of the 
" Fighting Division." The discovery 
was only made after his death at 
Waterloo, when his body was taken 
to Brussels and made ready for the 
grave. On his side, above the hip, 
there was found a large bladder of 
coagulated blood distending the skin, 
evidently the result of a contusion 
by a round shot : two of his ribs 
were broken, and the injury, the 
surgeons declared, must ultimately 
have proved mortal. Lest he should 
be considered disquaUfied for the 
greater battle which he knew to be 
imminent, he endured this neces- 
sarily painful hurt for two days 
without disclosing it even to a 
surgeon. 



SECORD DAY — LIGNY. 



89 



eastern apex of the Fleurus triangle and all the roads Lignj-. 
which converge there from western and northern Bel- June 16. 
gmm, and from Germany and the Ehine — was ex- 
tremely great under any circumstances, but especially 
so if Wellington should at the same time hold Quatre 
Bras, only six miles distant.^^ The position proper to be 
maintained by the Prussian army lay along and in 
advance of the Namur-Nivelles highroad on either side 
of its intersection by the road from Fleurus to Gem- 
bloux — that is, upon the chain of heights on the 
westernmost of which stands the village of Bry, Som- 
breflfe being in the centre, and Tongrines on the east. 
But the actual conflict of the armies was likely to be 



not so much on these 



heights 



as in the villages 



thickly clustered in the valley at their feet, through 
which flows the stream of the Ligny, In the centre 



*^ The fiill strategic, as distin- 
guislied from the tactical, value of 
Sombreffe (or Ligny) is explained 
by Siborne : " Sbould it prove ten- 
able, then — considered in conjunc- 
tion vnth the advance of the Russians 
from the Rhine — the v^hole line of 
the Meuse below Namur, and the 
communications of Aix-la-Chapelle 
and the Prussian States, were effectu- 
ally secured. If, on the other hand, 
either position [Ligny or Quatre 
Bras] were forced by the enemy, 
then Mont St. Jean and Wavre, upon 
parallel lines of retreat toward 
Brussels and Louvain, would like- 
wise offer the means of co-operation 
on the south side of the Forest of 
Soignies ; and, supposing Bliicher 
willing to risk his communication 
with the right bank of the Meuse, 
concentric lines of retreat upon 
Brussels would bring the two armies 
in combined position in the imme- 



diate front of the capital. Supposing 
also that Napoleon's plan had been 
to advance by Mens, the concentra- 
tion of the Prussian forces could not 
have been effected upon a more 
favourable point than that of Som- 
breffe, whence they could have ad- 
vanced in support of their allies, 
leaving a sufficient portion of Zieten's 
corps to watch the approaches by 
Charleroi : and, finally, had the 
French Emperor directed his main 
attack by Namur, the retreat of 
Thielemann's corps would have se- 
cured time for effecting the concentrar 
tion of the ist, 2d, and 3d Prussian 
corps d'arm6e, if not also of the 4th, 
while the Duke of Wellington's forces 
might have assembled at Quatre 
Bras, for the purpose of meeting any 
secondary attack from the Charleroi 
side, and of forming a junction with 
the Prussian army." 



90 



QUATEE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 



Ligny. of the vallej, and on both banks of the stream, is 
June i6. the village of Ligny, which gave its name to the 
battle ; upon the gentle slopes which bound the valley 
on the west are the villages of St. Amand, St. Amand 
la Haye, and Wagnele ; on a more rapid descent is 
Mont Pontriaux, toward the north-east ; and on the 
eastern side of the valley, which is steep, are Tongrines, 
Boignee, and Balatre. The houses in all these villages 
are of stone, with walled or hedged enclosures that 
offered great opportunities for defence. An enemy 




Old Road to iVfli«"" 
Velaiue 



approaching the Namur road from Fleurus must first 
take the villages on his left, for, on the right the 
highroad is commanded on either hand by Ligny and 
Boignee, and further on would be swept by fire from 
Mont Pontriaux and Tongrenelle. Difiicult as it was 
of access, the Prussian position tactically was weak. 
The heights behind Fleurus were much greater than 
those on the north of the valley, so that to JSTapo- 
leon every movement of the enemy was carried on 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. 9 1 

below him and in full view, wliether in the valley or Ligny. 
beyond it ; and his batteries could play upon the June 16. 
remotest part of the Prussian position and cover 
every approach by which their supports and reserves 
must reach the villages. ^^ On the French side also 
the make of the ground was such that the distribu- 
tion of considerable masses of troops could be effec- 
tually concealed. = Zieten's (ist) corps — which had 
ended its retreat of the previous day at the villages 
nearest Fleurus, and had passed the night in them — 
in the morning occupied Bry, St. Amand la Haye, 8 a.m. 
St. Amand, and Ligny, and the tract of ground in- 
cluded by them, — the main body of the corps being 
drawn up on the height of the farm and windmill of 
Bussy between Bry and Ligny, while battalions filled 
the villages or were posted in their support, and the 
cavalry watched the movements of the French. Pirch's 
corps (the 2d), on coming up from its halt for the ha.m. 
night at Mazy, was formed in reserve to that of 
Zieten, — the infantry holding the Namur-Nivelles road 
from its intersection with the old Eoman Eoad on the 
extreme right and extending eastward to the position 
designated for the 3d corps about Sombreffe, while 
its cavalry was stationed in reserve behind the Namur 
road, and the artillery, such as was not in reserve, 
joined Zieten's in taking positions likely to command 
the approaches of the French. Lastly, Thielmann's 
3d corps came up from ISTamur, and was posted 12 m. 
across the angle formed by the cross-roads, its right 

^° Wellington's dissatisfaction subject to these grave disadvantages, 
•with, the Prussian position has been that its right rested upon nothing, 
already noted (note ;^27 P^g® ^°)- and its front was so encumbered with 
MiifSing also found fault with the obstacles that no opportunity of act- 
occupation of St. Amand ; and ing was afforded to the numerous 
Jomini calls the position " detest- and excellent Prussian cavalry." 
able." Brialmont says that " it was 



92 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Ligny. at SombrefFe, its left at Balatre. The ground thus 
June i6. occupied had originally been selected in the expecta- 
tion that Billow's corps also would be present ; and 
Blucher's plan now was to protract the battle until 
either Wellington should join him on his right, coming 
from Quatre Bras, or Blilow from Gembloux in his 
rear, or, failing both, to hold the villages against the 
French until nightfall, when he could choose between 
retiring and still awaiting reinforcements, as events 
might determine. 

Of the French troops destined for the fight at 
Ligny, Vandamme's corps had bivouacked for the night 
in the wood of Fleurus, with most of the cavalry and 
Girard's infantry division equally well advanced ; but 
some hours of the morning were consumed before the' 
rear of the columns had come up from Charleroi 
sufficiently to debouch from the wood and take up 
II A.M. position before the town. During this operation l!Tapo- 
leon rode along the line of vedettes, reconnoitring the 
enemy's dispositions, after which he prepared his 
orders for the advance and assigned to each corps its 
place in the line of battle. The hght troops now 
moved upon Fleurus and occupied it without resistance 
from the Prussian cavalry outposts, which, under a fire 
of French artillery, fell back as far as the Tombe de 
Ligny ; and the main body of the French army moved 
to the designated points of attack. The left column, 
which was to take St. Amand, and was drawn up 
facing the western side of that village, consisted of 
Vandamme's (3d) corps d'armee, with Girard's divi- 
sion of Eeille's corps in prolongation of its left, and 
Domont's light-cavalry division on the extreme left 
flank. The centre was held by Gerard's (4th) corps, 
and formed upon the heights fronting Ligny between 
that village and the Fleurus highroad, its left near the 



II -12 M. 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. 93 

Tombe de Ligny and its right at an eminence near Mont Ligny. 
Pontriaux. The right cokimn, under Grouchy, com- June 16. 
prised Excelmans' and Pajol's cavahy corps, and took 
post in the rear of Gerard's corps, but at right angles 
with it, so as to face up the road from Fleurus and 
protect Gerard from any attack from Mont Pontriaux 
or Tongrenelle, and also to watch the Prussian left and 
divert their attention from the centre ; Pajol's corps 
also observed the old cross-road to Namur on the 
extreme right ; and, as the villages of Boignee and 
Balatre were occupied by Prussian infantry, Grouchy 
took from Gerard's corps two infantry battalions with 
which to oppose them. In reserve were the Imperial 
Guard on the left of Fleurus, and Milhaud's cuiras- 
siers on its right. In further reserve was Lobau's 6th 
corps, at this time near Charleroi. = While these dispo- 
sitions were being effected Napoleon made "a second 12M.-2. 
careful reconnoissance of the Prussian position from the 
Fleurus heights, as the result of which he determined 
on a vigorous assault on the Prussian right — which 
would drive them away from the English and give him 
possession of the Namur road ; — and he addressed to JSTey 
the order dated 2 o'clock, informing him that the attack 2 p.m. 
would begin in half an hour, and directing him to 
co-operate by moving from Quatre Bras upon the 
enemy's right and rear.^^ 

^1 " It is a remarkable fact," says the guiding spirits on either side 
Gleig, '' that at the very time when aware of the obstacles which are in 
the Emperor was reconnoitring the act of being raised to the accom- 
Bliicher and meditating these in- plishment of their respective de- 
structions, the Duke of Wellington signs." All of which is one of those 
was with Bliicher at the mill of purposeless platitudes used by other 
Bussy, arranging for the co-opera- writers than Mr, Gleig to fill the 
tion of the two Allied armies. So want of material information. The 
strangely is the great game of war really " remarkable fact " in this 
played when masters in the art are case was that the three generals, 
opposed to one another : so little are looking at the same time upon the 



94 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



After some delay to get Gerard's corps up into position, 



June i6. 



same battle-field, should all have 
drawn wholly erroneous conclusions. 
Of the party in the mill of Bussy 
Chesney writes, " All took the wing 
of Napoleon's army before them for 
the whole, and looked on any troops 
on the Quatre Bras side as a mere 
detachment. In accordance with 
this view we find Bliicher (as honest- 
minded a writer in such matters as 
any in modern history), reporting 
the army that attacked him as con- 
sisting of 1 30,000 men, that being in 
fact the estimate of the Grand Army 
previously gained through spies, and 
supposed by him to be more accurate 
than any guess made by a distant and 
partly smoke-covered view." It was 
thus that Wellington, in turn, im- 
agined that Ney could oppose to him 
no such resistance as would prevent 
his succouring Bliicher, and left him 
doubtful only as to the manner in 
which Bliicher had opposed his 
troops to the enemy's artillery fire 
(see note 23; page 60), Napoleon, 
on his part, erred first in his conclu- 
sion that the Prussians were drawn 
up in a position perpendicular to the 
Namur road, with their right flank 
left uncovered in anticipation of the 
English coming up. He also made 
no allowance for the presence of 
Thielmann's corps, although it was 



in the act of taking its position at 
the time he made his reconnoissance. 
He had previously written to 
Grouchy, " The Prussians are not 
able to bring more than 40,000 men 
against us : " he now put aside the 
assurances of Vandamme and others 
that the mass of the Prussian army 
was in the field ; and he wrote to 
Ney, after the reconnoissance, at 2 
o'clock, describing the force before 
him as only " un corps ch troiqjes," 
whom he could so readily dispose of 
that he purposed being at Brussels 
next morning, wiih his army. 
Oharras notes a coincidence very 
different from Gleig's inane platitude. 
After mentioning Wellington's under- 
taking to support Bliicher, and thus 
turn Napoleon's flank, he continues — 
" Remarkable coincidence ! Bliicher 
and Wellington agree upon a man- 
oeuvre which was the counterpart 
of that which Napoleon had pre- 
scribed to Ney some hours before, 
and was about to enjoin upon him 
anew— recommending him to operate 
as rapidly as possible with the mass 
of his troops. — But Welhngton was 
about to fail Bliicher, as Ney was 
Napoleon. On either side the lost 
time could not be retrieved." = The 
strength of the armies in the battle 
of Ligny was :* 



Infantry 
Cavalry 
Artillery 

Total . 


French 


Prussians 


With 
Napoleon 


Lobau's 
Corps 


Total 


40,985 

13,100 

5,926 


9,900 
1,292 


50,885 

13,100 

7,218 


73,030 
8,150 

3,437 


60,011 


11,192 


71,203 


84,617 


Guns .... 


204 


38 


242 


224 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. 



95 



Napoleon ordered the attack upon St. Amand and Battle of 
Ligny.^^ ^'j!^ll_ 

Vandamme, on the French left, directed Lefol's 
division, in three columns, to carry St. Amand ; and 2.30 p.m. 
the charge was successful, the superior numbers of the 
French sweeping out of the village the three Prussian 
battahons that occupied it, in spite of their stout resistance 
and of reinforcements sent them by Gen. von Steinmetz 
from the rear of the village. But when the French, 
pressing through, attempted to debouch from the outlets 
on the, side toward Ligny, they encountered a storm 
of grape and canister from batteries in their front 
that threw them into disorder, and four fresh battahons 
of Prussians charged them and succeeded in holding 
the lower part of the village, the French remaining in 
the higher portion. By this time the cannonade, which 



These figures are Siborne's. Oliesney, 
following Thiers, gives the Freucli a 
larger force, calling the troops with 
Napoleon 64,000, exclusive of 5,000 
non-comhatants of the train, and of 
10,000 in Lobau's corps, which was 
not engaged on this day. From the 
Prussian strength should be deducted 
1,200 — according to Ohesney 2,000 
— for the losses of Zieteu's corps 
during the retreat on June 15. The 
loss of the French on that day was 
inconsiderable. 

^' The time at which the battle 
began is thus fixed by Hooper : — "It 
is recorded that the quiet of the 
sultry summer noon was broken by 
the clang of the bell in the church 
tower of St. Amand striking half- 
past 2. Three cannon shots in quick 
but measured succession, fired near 
Fleurus, next broke the stiUness — 
the signal for Vandamme to fall on." 
Oust, making the same assertion, 
further states that the church clock 



struck "just as Ney's guns first 
sounded from the side of Quatre 
Bras." Thus the two battles would 
appear to have begun simultaneously. 
But Jomini, in his Life of Napoleon, 
makes tbe Emperor say, in speaking 
of the condition of things at Ligny 
at 5.30 P.M., " I was becoming im- 
patient at hearing nothing of the 
movements prescribed to Ney, nor 
of his operations at Quatre Bras, for 
the noise of a violent cannonade and 
the direction of the wind had pre- 
vented me from hearing his attack." 
And on a subsequent page, he says, 
"Ney ... did not reach his posi- 
tion [before Quatre Bras] till 2 
o'clock, . . . and for the first horn* 
engaged the enemy in skirmishes; 
but at 3 o'clock, hearing the can- 
nonade at St. Amand, he took the 
resolution to make a serious attack 
upon the Allies." (See note 35, 

'4-0 



June i6. 



96 QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of had commenced with the batteries covering Van- 
'?!!ll_ damnie's advance, had extended all along the lines of 
both armies and become tremendous, the Prussians 
firing from the heights between St. Amand and Ligny 
over the villages and upon the enemy's ranks beyond, 
while the French guns, from their more elevated 
position and most effectively served, swept away the 
Prussian reinforcements as they approached the 
villages or showed themselves on their edges. A re- 
newed attack by Vandamme dislodged the Prussians 
who had still held their ground, and Steinmetz was 
compelled to withdraw his brigade — which had already 
lost 46 officers and 2,300 men — to a position between 
Bry and Sombreffe. Thenceforth St. Amand remained 
in the hands of the French. = The conflict which during 
this time took place at Ligny was even more furious 
but less decisive. The first outbreak of the French 
artillery seemed to destroy all before it ; and the de- 
fenders sought shelter behind stone walls and in hol- 
low ways, until they saw Gerard's columns of attack 
emerging from the smoke clouds on the opposite 
heights. Immediately the Prussian skirmishers lined 
the outer enclosures on the eastern face of the village, 
and a Prussian column, rapidly deploying, shook the 
advancing mass by a volley of musketry, and completed 
its disorder by their well-sustained fire. Twice was this 
attack repeated by the same assailing column, with 
the same result ; then a second French column moved 
upon the centre of the village, and a third against its 
northern end ; but nowhere could they effect an en- 
trance, and they drew off to prepare for another 
assault and to give place to a renewed torrent of fire 
from the batteries.^^=In the eastern part of the field 

53 Erclimann-Cliatrian'sTF«!^erZoo exact account of the doings of the 
gives both a graphic and a singularly troops that attacked the village of 



SECOND DAY — LTGNY. 



97 



the battle was not urged with much vigour, there being Battle of 
only a succession of indecisive disputes between ^' — 



Lio'ny. The hero serves in a light 
infantry division of Gerard's corps, 
©ne of those vs^hich had bivouacked 
near Fleurus the night before, and 
were halted near it vs^hen the Em- 
peror arrived. '^A mm-mur ran 
through the whole division — ' There 
he is ! ' He was on horseback, and 
only accompanied by a few of the 
officers of his staff. ... He entered 
Fleurus by the highroad, and re- 
mained in the village more than an 
hour while we were roasting in the 
grain fields." They march to the 
right and halt again beside the wind- 
mill of Fleurus, described by Thiers. 
"We had hardly halted when the 
Emperor came out of this mill with 
three or four generals and two old 
peasants in blouses holding their 
cotton caps in their hands. The 
whole division commenced to shout, 
' Vive VEmpereu7- ! ' I saw him 
plainly as he came along a path in 
front of the battalion, with his head 
bent down and his hands behind his 
back, listening to the old bald peasant. 
... He had grown much stouter 
than when he was at Leipzig, " and 
looked yellow. If it had not been 
for his gray coat and his hat, I should 
hardly have recognised him. His 
cheeks were sunken and he looked 
much older. , . . General Gerard, 
who had recognized him, came up at 
a gallop. He turned round for two 
seconds to listen to him, and then 
both went into Fleurus. Still we 
waited ! About 2 o'clock General 
Gerard returned, and our line was 
obliqued a third time more to the 
right. . . . The attacking columns 
were formed just as the clock struck 
3 ; I was in the one on the left, which 



June 16. 



moved first at a quick step along a 
winding road. ... All went smoothly 
until we reached a point where the 
road was cut through a little eleva- 
tion and then ran down to the village. 
As we passed through between these 
little hills, covered with grain, and 
caught sight of the nearest house, a 
veritable hail of balls fell upon the 
head of the column with a frightful 
noise. From every hole in the old 
ruin, from all the windows and loop- 
holes in the houses, from the hedges 
and orchards and from above the 
stone walls, the muskets showered 
their deadly fire upon us like light- 
ning. At the same time a battery of 
fifteen pieces which had been for 
that very purpose placed in a field 
in the rear of the great tower at the 
left of and higher up than Ligny, 
near the windmill, opened upon us 
with a roar, compared with which 
that of the musketry was nothing. 
Those who had unfortunately passed 
the cut in the road fell over each 
other in heaps in the smoke. . . . 
The column set oflp again at a x\m and 
threw itself into the road that led 
down the hill across the hedges. 
From the palisades and the walls 
behind which the Prussians were in 
ambush, they continued to pour their 
musketry fire upon us. But woe to 
every one we encountered ! they de- 
fended themselves with the despera- 
tion of wolves, but a few blows from 
a musket or a bayonet-thrust soon 
stretched them out in some corner. 
A great number of old soldiers with 
gray mustaches had secured their 
retreat, and retired in good order, 
turning to fire a last shot, and then 
slipped through a breach or shut a 



H 



98 QUATRE BRx\S, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of Groucliy's and Thielmann's corps for the possession 
'"'^ — '— of Boignee and the parts of Tongrines lying in the 
valley. It formed no part of Napoleon's plan at this 
time to push the battle on the Prussian left. = Among 
the western villages, however, the contest proceeded. 
The French held St. Aniand, but were effectually 
stopped by Zieten's batteries from emerging on its 
inner side. St. Amand la Haye was taken by Girard's 
division, which Bliicher directed Pirch II to dislodge 
with his brigade, while at the same time he combined 
a considerable force to hold Wagnele, which was an 
important point, as its possession at once secured his 
right flank and his communication with Wellington. 
Pirch moved from the heights of Bry upon St. Amand 
la Haye, but whole ranks of his men were carried off 
by the French artillery fire before they could reach 
it, and a sharp musketry fire greeted their entrance ; 
and though they penetrated far into the village and 
were supported there by reinforcements from their 
rear, no efforts could drive the French out of a large 
walled building which formed a sort of link between 
this village and that of St. Amand. In the desperate 
struggle that ensued Gen. Girard, who directed it, 
fell mortally wounded ; but the Prussians, utterly dis- 
ordered and hard pressed, were compelled to withdraw 
and re-form for a fresh attack. This was arranged by 

door. We followed them without back. I jumped over the palisades 
hesitatiou ; we had neither prudence where I should have thought it im- 
nor mercy. . . . From the well- possible at any other time, with my 
barricaded cottages they still poured knapsack and cartridge-box at my 
their fire upon us. In ten minutes back ; the others followed my ex- 
more we should have been extermi- ample, and we all tumbled in a heap 
nated to the last man : seeing this, like a falling wall. Once in the road 
the column turned down the hill again between the hills, we stopped 
again ; drummers and sappers, officers to breathe. . . . All this did not 
and soldiers, pell-mell, all went with- take ten minutes." 
out once turning their heads to loolc 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. 99 

Bliiclier himself, who was so much impressed with the Battle of 
importance of securing the western cluster of villages ^^"^' 
and directing from them a general assault upon the ^^^^ ' 
enemy's left flank, that he now repaired to this part 
of the field and remained there, summoning up fresh 
troops to fill the places of those who had fallen, and 
pouring battalion after battalion into the villages, 
until the crisis of the battle called him elsewhere. 
Tippelskirchen's brigade was formed along the old 
Eoman road ready to advance upon the rear of 
Wagnele, and on its left was Jlirgass' cavalry, pre- 
pared to charge into the opening between Wagnele 
and St, Amand la Haye should the French debouch 
in that direction, when Bliiclier galloped up to the 
leading battalions of Pirch II and vehemently ordered 
them to take St. Amand la Haye. " Children," said he, 
" bear yourselves bravely ! Let not ' the nation ' lord 
it over you again ! Forwards ! forwards, in God's name ! " 
(" Kinder, haltet Euch hrav ! lasstdie Nation nicht wieder 
Herr ilher Euch loerden ! Yorwdrts ! vorwdrts, in Gottes 
Namen 1 ") Advancing at a charging pace, with cries 
of " Vorwdrts ! " they entered St. Amand la Haye with 
a rush that rolled the French before them and beyond 
the bounds of the village, and were with difficulty 
restrained from falling upon their reserves in the rear.^* 

^^ Napoleon had noted from his enemy's approach until he was 

point of observation at Fleurus the among them. In their surprise they 

numbers Bliicher was gathe^-ing had no weapons hut their rammers 

against his left wing, and had de- and hand spikes, but with them they 

tached a division and a battery of so belaboured the horsemen as to 

the Young Guard and Colbert's bri- drive them off. = The lancers sent out 

gade of Pajol's lancers in its sup- on this occasion reinforced the 

port. A troop of the artillery horse- cavalry already on the left flank to 

men came upon a Prussian battery preserve communication with Ney. 

that covered St. Amand la Haye As a counterpoise Bliicher sent two 

while its gunners were so absorbed of Jlirgass' cavalry regiments beyond 

in watching the contest for the vil- the Roman road to support Zieten's 

lage that they were unaware of the cavalry already in that direction. 

H 2 



roo QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

While St. Amand la Haye was thus held by the 
Prussians, their simultaneous attack upon Wagnele 
had failed. The Prussians entered and traversed the 
village successfully, but on attempting to deploy 
beyond it they encountered a severe fire from French 
skirmishers concealed in the thick high grain, and 
three battalions were disordered and intermingled ; 
whereupon a French column charged them and took 
the village, but were checked by the Prussian ar- 
tillery fire and infantry reserves when they tried to 
pass beyond it. Around these villages the fight con- 
tinued to rage furiously, presently extending to the 
Hameau de St. Amand, whose position made it a key 
to the defence of Wagnele, St. Amand la Haye, and 
St. Amand ; now one side, now the other got an 
advantage, St. Amand la Haye changing owners four 
times, and only St. Amand remaining constantly in 
the hands of the French. Both sides poured in suc- 
cessive reinforcements, Blllcher almost denuding his 
left and centre for the purpose ; and both suffered 
terribly from the artillery, but especially the Prussians, 
whose approaching columns were shattered on the 
slopes before they could reach the point of attack. = 
While this struggle — indecisive from its nature so long 
as both opponents could continue to supply victims — 
was taking place in the western villages, an equally 
obstinate and even more desperate contest was going on 
in the centre. 

Gerard, after his first attack upon Ligny had been 
repelled, tried a new mode of approach. He advanced 
two colunnis simultaneously — one against the church- 
yard in the centre of the village, the other against its 
lower end, so as to turn the left flank of the defenders. 
Moving stealthily through the tall grain, the French 
skirmishers drew so near, without being perceived, that 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. lOl 



a sudden dash gave them possession of the outer gardens Battle of 
and enclosures, where they were quickly joined by the 



battahons foUowino-. A hand-to-hand conflict ensued, 



&• 



in which the Prussians of Henkel's brigade were out- 
numbered and outflanked, and at first gave ground ; but 
they were presently ralhed by their officers and faced 
the enemy, while new troops came up on either side 
through the fire of the batteries. The struggle became 
intensely exciting — shouts of " Vive VEmpereur ! " 
mingling with those of ^^ Vor warts T^ the incessant 
rattling of musketry with the roar of cannon and crash- 
ing of shot, while the grandeur of the scene was com- 
pleted by the flames and columns of smoke that broke 
forth from the burning Castle of Ligny. The Prussians 
succeeded in holding their own ; then they began gain- 
ing ground ; then came reinforcements from Jagow's 
brigade, before whose furious onset the French gave 
way and were driven out of the village, leaving two of 
their guns behind them. Encouraged by this success, a 
Prussian column was formed and advanced from the 
village to attack the enemy ; but just as they emerged 
from the streets they encountered several battalions in 
column moving upon them. The Prussians had no room 
to deploy, and the French were impatient of the delay ; 
and for half an hour a musketry fire ensued, causing 
much loss on both sides. Supports for the defenders 
were hurrying up through the village, when an alarm 
was spread that the French had carried the churchyard 
in their rear, and musket shots were heard in that direc- 
tion. Confused by the unexpected firing in this direc- 
tion, and disordered by a blast of grape from a French 
battery in their front, the Prussians fell back into the 
streets, and the French, now reinforced, poured in after 
them. " The fight throughout the whole village of 
Ligny was now at the hottest : the place was literally 



I02 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

crammed with the combatants, and its streets and en- 
closures were choked up with the wounded, the dying, 
and the dead : every house that escaped being set on 
fire was the scene of a desperate struggle : the troops 
fought no longer in combined order, but in numerous 
and irregular groups, separated by houses either in 
flames or held as little forts, sometimes by one and 
sometimes by the other party : and in various instances, 
when their ammunition failed or when they found them- 
selves suddenly assailed from different sides, the bayonet 
and even the butt supplied them with the ready means 
for prosecuting the dreadful carnage with unmitigated 
fury. The entire village was concealed in smoke ; but . 
the incessant rattle of the musketry, the crashing of 
burning timbers, the smashing of doors and gateways, 
the yells and imprecations of the combatants, which 
were heard through that misty veil, gave ample indica- 
tion to the troops posted in reserve upon the heights of 
the fierce and savage nature of the struggle beneath. 
In the meantime the reheving batteries on the Prussian 
side, which had arrived quite fresh from the rear, came 
into full play, as did also a reinforcement on the French 
side from the artillery of the Imperial Guard. The 
earth now trembled under the tremendous cannonade ; 
and as the flames issuing from the numerous burning 
houses, intermingled with dense volumes of smoke, 
shot directly upward through the light-grey mass wliich 
rendered the village indistinguishable, and seemed con- 
tinually to thicken, the scene resembled for a time some 
violent convulsion of nature rather than a human con- 
flict — as if the valley had been rent asunder, and Ligny 
had become the focus of a burning crater." ^^ Thus the 
battle raged for hours, horribly destructive, but with 

5' This quotation and others following are from Sihorne, 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. I03 

nothing determinate about it, — Blliclier sending into the Battle of 
village the brigades of Krafft and Langen to aid what re- '^^^ 
mained of those of Henkel and Jagow, who had gone 
before them ; and the French adding new assailants in 
Hke manner, until they had filled and to a certain ex- 
tent held the part of Ligny on the eastern side of the 
stream, while that on the west was mostly in the hands 
of the Prussians. = In the western villages similar 
struggles were going on. Bllicher was looking most 
anxiously for the coming of either Wellington or Billow, 
cheering on his men as they went into the contest with 
the cry, " Forward, lads ! we must do something before 
the English join us ! " For hours he had thus been 
drawing upon his reserves, until there remained to 
him but a single intact brigade, Von Borke's, which 
he had refrained from moving because it would leave his 
centre bare. This state of things Napoleon had care- 
fully watched from the Fleurus heights ; and he now 
prepared to deal the blow that should determine the 
battle. 

At Fleurus the Emperor had kept with him in re- 
serve the Imperial Guard, nearly 20,000 strong, and 
Milhaud's corps of heavy cavalry, eight regiments of 
cuirassiers. This force — an army in itself, and as yet 
perfectly fresh — he made ready to hurl upon the 
depleted centre of the enemy, who was now fully occu- 
pied with the struggle in the villages. To conceal the 
movement, he advanced his reserves behind inequalities 6 p.m. 
of the ground that hid them from view and in the rear 
of Gerard's corps ; and he removed a portion of Gerard's 
batteries in order to persuade the enemy that the attack 
was languishing in that part of the field. The Guard 
were in full march for the passage over the stream of 
the Ligny at the northern end of the village, when a 
sudden order from the Emperor brought them to a halt. 



I04 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

He had just been warned by Vandamme, through suc- 
cessive messages, that a heavy cokimn of all arms was 
marching upon the French left-rear, that Girard's divi- 
sion had been obhged to withdraw from the attack on 
the villages to show a front to the new comers, and that, 
unless the reserves could be so disposed as to arrest 
their advance, his own corps must evacuate St. Amand. 
Napoleon was equally surprised. He anticipated no 
arrival of troops, except from Key's force, which would 
move either from Gosselies upon St. Amand or from 
Quatre Bras upon Bry — that is, upon the Prussian right 
and rear ; and the direction whence the new column 
came was such that it seemed to be a diversion in 
Blltcher's favour by Wellington, who must have secured 
some advantage over Ney. Hence he arrested his own 
grand attack and sent out aides-de-camp to reconnoitre 
the intruders. Bliicher was no less confused. The 
movements of the Guard had been so masked as to 
appear like a retreat, and the report that Gerard was 
withdrawing his guns so confirmed this impression that 
the Prussian Marshal was collecting every disposable 
battalion for a general onset upon the French left. 
Suddenly this new column ajDpeared, and presently 
threw out from its left flank a body of cavalry, with 
artillery, that skirmished with the cavalry of the ex- 
treme Prussian right, near Mellet, west of the Eoman 
road ; and, as the result of this skirmish, prisoners were 
soon brought in from whom it was learned that a whole 
French corps, D'Erlon's, was at hand. Of a sudden — to 
increase the perplexity of the thing — the column was 
seen to halt, to remain as if undecided, and then to 
withdraw whence it had come. D'Erlon had been over- 
taken by Ney's peremptory order recalling him to 
Quatre Bras, and just after was joined by the Emperor's 
aide-de-camp, who informed him that his presence in this 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. 105 

part of the field was unlooked for and that there were Battle of 
no orders for him ; so the ist corps was marched back ^^.^Il_ 
to join Ney.^^ To Bllicher this turn of events, thongh 
unaccountable, was most welcome, and he went on col- 
lecting forces for the attack on the French left. This 
was not lost upon Napoleon, who had been reassured by 
his aide-de-camp's return from D'Erlon ; and, willing to 6.30 p.m. 
have Bllicher draw as heavily upon the strength of his 
centre as he would, he still deferred ordering the ad- 
vance of the Guard. = During this interruption of events 
on the west of the battle, Thielmann on the Prussian 
left had taken the supposed slackening of Gerard's 
efforts against Ligny as a favourable opportunity for 
moving upon the French right. He pushed forward his 
single remaining cavalry brigade and a horse-battery 
along the Fleurus road toward the bridge over the 
Ligny, and an artillery combat began with Grouchy's 
batteries on the opposite heights. Other Prussian guns 
came forward, supported by dragoons, which the French 
opposed by planting two guns upon the highroad, while 
two regiments of Excelmans' cavalry charged from the 
eastern side of the road, routed, and pursued the Prus- 
sians, capturing one of their batteries, and following 
them toward Point-du-Jour. But Prussian infantry 
now hned the walls and bridges along the western side 
of the Fleurus road and occupied Mont Pontriaux in 
force, while their artillery on the Tongrines heights and 
near Tongrenelle opened upon the French, who, thus 
menaced in front and on both flanks, withdrew from 

^® The facts stated in the text, thirty thousand men were, I may 
together with those already given in say, paralysed ; and were idly pa- 
note 46, p. 84, complete the story raded during the whole of the battle 
of D'Erlon's false march, which lost from the right to the left, and from 
the battle of Quatre Bras, and of the left to the right, without firing a 
which Ney wrote to the Minister of shot." 
War (June 25), "Twenty-five or 



ro6 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

this part of the field. = In the villages, meanwhile, 
neither French nor Prussians knew what was going on 
outside, but continued their bloody work without ces- 
sation. " The exhaustion of the Prussian troops was 
becoming more manifest every moment. Several ofiicers 
and men, overcome by long-continued exertion, were 
seen to fall solely from excessive fatigue. No kind of 
warfare can be conceived more harassing to the com- 
batants than was the protracted contest in the villages 
which skirted the front of the Prussian position. It 
partook also of a savage and relentless character. The 
animosity and exasperation of both parties were uncon- 
trollable. Innumerable individual combats took place. 
Every house, every court, every wall was the scene of 
a desperate conflict. Streets were alternately won and 
lost. An ungovernable fury seized upon the combatants 
on both sides as they rushed wildly forward to relieve 
their comrades exhausted by their exertions in the 
deadly strife, — a strife in which every individual ap- 
peared eager to seek out an opponent, from whose death 
he might derive some alleviation to the thirst of hatred 
and revenge by which he was so powerfully excited. 
Hence no quarter was asked or granted by either party."^^ 

^^ A yet more vivid conception we entered the village, broke in the 

of these scenes than Siborue gives in doors vdth the butts of our muskets, 

the spirited passage quoted above is while the Prussians fired upon us 

embodied in the individual experi- from the windows. It was a thou- 

ence of the conscripl of Erckmann- sand times worse indoors?, because 

Ohatrian. After the repulse of his the yells of rage mingled in the up- 

column in its first attack on Ligny, roar ; on we rushed into the houses 

it is ordered to the second attack. with fixed bayonets and massacred 

'' The Prussian bullets swept us away each other without mercy. On 

by dozens, and shot fell like hail, every side the cry rose, ' No quar- 

and the drums kept up their ' pan- ter ! ' . . . We rushed into a large 

pan-pan.' We said nothing, heard room already filled with soldiers, on 

nothing, as we crossed the orchard, the first floor of a house ; it was 

nobody paid any attention to those dark, as they had covered the win- 

who fell, and in two minutes after dows with sacks of earth, but we 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. 



107 



Both Gerard Battle of 



Thus this wasting village fight went on 
and Vandamme had appealed to Napoleon for reinforce- 
ments : as nioiit was coniina; on Krafft notified Gneisenau 
that the Prussians in Ligny could not hold out much 
longer, and was answered that the village must be 
maintained, at whatever sacrifice, for half an hour more ; 
and about the same time Pirch II. sent a messenger 



June 16. 

8 P.M. 



could see a steep wooden stairway at 
one end, down which the blood was 
running. We heard musket-shots 
from ahove, and the iiashes each 
moment showed us five or six of our 
men sunk in a heap against the ha- 
lusti'ade, with their arms hanging 
down, and the others running over 
their bodies with their bayonets 
fixed, trying to force their way into 
the loft. . . . An old fellow covered 
with wounds succeeded in reaching 
the top of the stairs under the 
bayonets. As he gained the loft he 
let go his musket and seized the ba- 
lustrade with both hands. Two 
balls from muskets touching his 
breast did not make him let go his 
hold. Three or four others rushed 
up behind him, striving each to be 
first, and leaped over the top stairs 
into the loft above. Then followed 
such an uproar as is impossible to 
describe; shots followed each other 
in quick succession, and the shouts 
and trampling of feet made us think 
the house was coming down over our 
heads. Others followed, and when 
I reached the scene . . . the room 
was full of dead and wounded men, 
the walls splashed with blood, and 
not a Prussian was left on his feet. 
Five or six of our men were support- 
ing themselves against the difierent 
pieces of furniture, smiling ferocious- 
ly. Nearly all of them had balls or 
bayonet thrusts in their bodies, but 



the pleasure of revenge was greater 
than the pain of their wounds.'" 
They presently go out into the street. 
" The fight at the bridge continued. 
The old church clock strikes five. 
We had destroyed all the Prussians 
on this side of the stream, except 
those who were in ambush in the 
great old ruin on the left, which was 
full of holes. It had been set on 
fire at the top by our howitzers, but 
the fire continued from the lower 
storeys, and we were obliged to avoid 
it." They are driven, fifteen of 
them, into the loft of a barn, where 
the Prussians roll in a bomb below 
and explode it : six survive and seek 
another stronghold. " It was about 
half-past six, and the combat at St. 
Amand seemed to grow fiercer than 
ever. Bliicher had moved his forces 
to that side, and it was a favourable 
moment to carry the other part of 
the village . . . The houses on either 
side of the brook were filled with 
troops, the French on the right, the 
Prussians on the left. ... It was 
about seven o'clock and near sunset ; 
the shadows of the houses on our 
side reached quite to the brook, 
while those occupied by the Prussians 
were still in the sunlight, as well as 
the hillside of Bry, down which we 
coiild see the fresh troops coming on 
the run. The cannonade had never 
been so fierce as at this moment from 
our side." 



Io8 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

from St. Amand la Haye to tell Blliclier that his brigade 
had exhausted all its ammunition, even that in the 
pouches of the dead ; to which the Prince — who was 
now completing his arrangements for falling upon the 
flank of the French — rejoined that the 2d brigade 
must not only keep its ground but attack the enemy 
with the bayonet. It was now that Napoleon, seeing 
the space behind Ligny left bare of Prussian troops, 
said to Gerard, " They are lost : they have no reserve 
remaining ; " and he issued the orders for delivering , 
that final attack which the apparition of D'Erlon had 
suspended. ^^ 

The attack was opened by the rapid advance of 
several batteries of the artillery of the Guard, which 
directed a tremendous fire upon the Prussians within 
and in rear of Ligny ; and under its cover Gerard led 
his remaining troops to support their comrades in the 
village and to dislodge the Prussians from the part of it 
across the stream. The latter were giving way before 
this renewed attack, and a body of infantry moved to 
their relief. As the Prussians were marching, " they 
suddenly perceived, on the French right of the village, a 
column issuing from under the heavy smoke that rolled 
away from the well-served batteries which had so unex- 
pectedly opened upon them, and which continued so 
fearfully to thin their ranks ; and, as the mass rapidly 
advanced down the slope with the evident design of 
forcing a passage across the valley, they could not fail to 
distinguish, both by its well-sustained order and com- 
pactness and by its dark waving surface of bear-skins, 

^^ It is of this period during ' Notify the grenadiers that the first 

which the Guard had remained halted who brings in a Prussian prisoner 

that Charras relates this incident : — shall be shot ! ' Ferocious words ! " 

" General Rognet, second colonel of comments Oharras, " for which, two 

the grenadiers, collected the officers days later, there were to be ferocious 

and sub'officers, and said to them, reprisals." 



June i6. 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. I09 

that they liad now to contend agamst the redoubtable Battle of 
Imperial Guard." The Prussians, however, showed no ^^^^ 
irresolution. Seeing that Ligny was turned, instead of 
seeking to enter it, they prepared to secure an orderly 
retreat for its defenders — an operation which would be 
facilitated under cover of the rapidly increasing dark- 
ness and the rain which had now set in. They even ad- 
vanced against the Guard, as if to check its progress, 
but were charged in flank by Milhaud's corps of cuiras- 
siers, who came up at this moment by the western side 
of Ligny ; yet the stand they made, seconded by two 
squadrons of West]3halian Landwehr cavalry, enabled the 
troops in Ligny to withdraw in squares in the direction 
of Bry, defying the efforts of the French to scatter them. 
All the Prussian cavalry at hand — three regiments of 
Zieten's corps — were hurried to the menaced point. 
They were numerous enough to encounter the French 
horse, and were bravely led ; but in the confusion 
caused by the sudden attack and the darkness, their 
efforts were unavailing, and two successive charges 
failed. Bliicher by this time had arrived — sending as 
he came an aide-de-camp. Major Winterfeldt, to notify 
Wellington that he was forced to retreat ;^^ — and put 

^^ Winterfeldt, bearing Bliicher's have treated the matter as of too 

message, got as far as Piermont on little moment to reqiiire looking 

his way to Quatre Bras, when he after. Hence Wellington's ignorance 

was shot down by Ney's skirmishers, until next morning of the result of 

and in the darkness he lay some time the action at Ligny — for which Eng- 

between their fire and that of the lish writers used to censure Bliicher 

English before the latter rescued or Gneisenau. It woidd seem that the 

him. The wounded man considered fault lay in the general slackness or in- 

his message too important to be con- ertiainthe British army system. But 

fided to a subordinate, and desired Ohesney holds it to be a " mistake," 

the officer who came to assist him to for which " we may censure Miiffling 

send for the nearest officer of rank. himself, or possibly the stiffness of 

Miifiling in the course of the evening character which first took Major 

was informed that an aide-de-camp Winterfeldt umiecessarily near the 

had been wounded, but seems to line of French skirmishers, and, when 



I lO 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Ligny. 

June i6. 



himself at the head of his cavaby to lead a third charge, 
designed to throw the French back into the valley. 
The old hussar's gallantry proved ineffectual, for the 
French again held their ground ; and as the cuirassiers 
rapidly pursued him when he withdrew his forces to 
rally, his horse was killed under him, and the sturdy old 
man fell, disabled for the day.^*^ Further hostilities on 



woimded by his own temerity, made 
him keep the message close." = It 
may be added here that Wellington's 
regular channel of communication 
with Bliicher also was interrupted ; 
for Gen. Hardinge, the British repre- 
sentative at Prussian headquarters, 
had received during the action a 
wound, which cost him his left 
hand. Gleig, indeed, states that the 
Duke "learned after nightfall, from 
a short note written by Hardmge 
while he lay mutilated in a cot- 
tage, that the Prussians were over- 
matched." Brialmont gives a more 
probable story than Gleig's — that 
Sir Henry Hardinge, after being- 
wounded, " sent by his brother, a 
captain of artillery, his last report — 
a verbal one — which reached the 
Duke just as darkness was closing 
in. Up to that moment," adds 
Brialmont, " Wellington had been 
able to follow, with his glass, the 
main incidents in the battle." He 
was without further precise infor- 
mation until it was obtained by his 
own patrols next morning. 

^^ " The Prince's fine gray char- 
ger," says Siborue, — "a present from 
the Prince Regent of England — was 
mortally wounded by a shot, in the 
left side, near the saddle-girth. On 
experiencing a check to his speed, 
Bliicher spurred, when the animal, 
still obedient to the impulse of its 



gallant master, made a few convul- 
sive plunges forward ; but on finding 
that his steed was rapidly losing 
strength, and perceiving at the same 
time the near approach of the cuiras- 
siers, he cried out to his aide-de- 
camp, ' Nostitz, now I am lost ! ' At 
that moment the horse fell from ex- 
haustion, rolling upon his right side, 
and half burying its rider under its 
weight." Count Nostitz jumped 
from his horse, which was also 
wounded, and, holding its bridle in 
bis left hand, and his sword in his 
right, stood ready to defend his gene- 
ral. The pursuers swept past, so 
close that one of them clashed 
against the standing horse, but in the 
rush and the darkness never noticed 
the fallen man or his companion. 
Presently the Prussians rallied and 
drove back the French over the same 
ground. As the trampling of hoofs 
approached, Nostitz threw a cloak 
over the Marshal, and, when the 
French had again dashed by them, 
succeeded in grasping the bridle of 
one of the pursuing Prussian Uhlans 
and arresting some of the files fol- 
lowing. Five or six troopers by 
main force raised the body of the 
dead horse, while others raised Blii- 
cher, senseless and immovable, got 
him upon a horse, and — ^just in time 
to escape a charge of the again 
advancing French — delivered him to 



June i6. 



SECOND DAY — LIGNY. 1 1 1 

the part of the Prussians were hmited to movements Battle of 
calculated to secure the retirement of broken divisions ^ ^^^' 
and battalions to the rear. Enough troops remained in 
good condition to show a firm front at Bry and at Som- 
breife, and to hold the road connecting them. On the 
Prussian extreme left, before the angle of the roads 
at Point-du-Jour, Thielmann, whose corps had suffered 
least, even assumed the offensive, — holding Mont Pon- 
triaux in force while the Prussians were crossing the 
stream of the Ligny in its front, and repelling the ad- 
vance of Lobau's corps, which had come up from its 
position in reserve and showed itself in this part of the 
field at the close of the battle. Thus nothins^ in the 
nature of a rout took place at any point in the Prussian 
hne ; and adequate rearguards held the Namur-Nivelles 
road from Marbais to Point-du-Jour, covering the gene- 
ral retreat which at once began. The French attempted 
no pursuit. Napoleon went back to Fleurus for the 
night. His troops rested in their bivouacs — Yandamme's 
corps (the 3d) in advance of St. Amand, Gerard's 
(the 4th) in front of Ligny, the Imperial Guard upon the 
heights before Bry, Grouchy's cavalry before Sombreffe, 
and Lobau's corps in rear of Ligny. ^^ 

the care of tlie nearest body of infan- taken on either side. Thiers makes 

try, who hore him to the rear. = For the Prussian loss in killed and 

the present Bliicher was completely wounded 1 8,000, and by desertion 

ho7-s de combat — perhaps indeed for- 12,000 more. The Rev. Mr. Abbott, 

tunately for the Allied cause, since, improving again upon Thiers, says 

in accordance with the wise forecast that ''the Prussians, leaving 10,000 

of the Prussian King, the conduct prisoners in his hands, and 20,000 

of the retreat now devolved upon weltering in blood, fled, as they had 

Gneisenau. ever been accustomed to do, before 

^^ The loss of the Prussians in the genius of Napoleon." Thiers, 

the battle of Ligny is stated by describing Napoleon's customary ride 

Siborne at about 12,000 killed and over the battle-field next morning, 

wounded, that of the French between says, " AVithin St. Amand the niun- 

7,000 and 8,000. The French cap- ber of slain was pretty equally divided 

tured 21 guns. Few prisoners were between the French and Prussians, 



r 12 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



The Prussians were the only ones of the combatants 
at Ligny or Qiiatre Bras who showed any activity during 
the night, — Napoleon's and Key's French, as well as 
Wellington's British and Netherlanders, reposing quietly 
until daybreak. The Prussians availed themselves of 
the cover of darkness to the utmost. Before the battle 



but all the bodies beyond the stream 
were clad in the Prussian uniform. 
. . . The rising ground behind, as 
far as the Mill of Bry, where the ar- 
tillery of the Guard had attacked the 
Prussian reserve en echarpe, was 
strewn with the bodies of men and 
horses, mingled with broken cannon. 
, . . But at Ligny the scene was 
fearful. There the combat had 
taken place in the village itself, 
where men had fought hand to hand 
with all the animosity of civil strife. 
The number of the slaughtered Prus- 
sians and French was equal, and, 
save their lifeless bodies, no human 
form was to be seen, all the inhabit- 
ants having fled from their homes. 
. . In leaving Ligny and ascend- 
ing the ground where the Imperial 
Guard had decided the victory, the 
slain were almost exclusively Prus- 
sians, or, in making a sad comparison, 
we may say that there were two or 
three Prussians to one Frenchman." 
Erckmann-Chatrian's conscript pic- 
tures the scene at Ligny in horrible 
detail : " We were then distributed 
in squads to superintend the removal 
of the wounded. Several detach- 
ments of chasseurs were ordered to 
escort the convoys to Fleurus, as 
there was no room for them at 
Ligny ; the church was already filled 
with the poor fellows. We did not 
select those to be removed ; the sur- 
geons did that, as we could hardly 
distinguish in numbers of cases be- 



tween the living and the dead. We 
only laid them on the straw in the 
carts. ... I was astonished that so 
many of us had escaped in the car- 
nage, which had been far greater than 
at Liitzen, or even at Leipziir. The 
battle had only lasted five hours, and 
the dead in many places were piled 
two or three deep. The blood flowed 
from under them in streams. Through 
the principal street, where the artil- 
lery went, the mud was r6d with 
blood, and the mud itself was 
crushed bones and flesh. ... At 
Fleurus we were obliged to separate 
the French and the Prussians, because 
they would rise from their beds or 
their bundles of straw, to tear each 
other to pieces." = The desertions 
from the Prussian army took place, 
Siborne says, " amongst the newly- 
raised drafts from the Rhenish and 
Westphalian provinces, and from the 
Duchy of Berg. Of these troops, 
8,000 men betook themselves to a 
flight, which admitted of no check 
until they reached Liege and Aix- 
la-Ohapelle. Among the Rhenish 
troops, particularly those from pro- 
vinces which had formerly belonged 
to France, there were many old 
French soldiers ; and although some 
of them fought with great bravery, 
others evinced a bad disposition, and 
there were instances in which they 
passed over to their former com- 
panions in arms." 



SECOND NIGHT — PEUSSIAN EETREAT. 113 

had ceased orders were sent to the several corps, TheCam- 
designating their respective lines of retreat . Gneisenau wa1;erioo. 
had taken the command the moment he learned of june 16. 
Bllicher's fall/^ and at once directed the withdrawal of J'ofi. 
the army northward to Wavre, under cover of the 
troops drawn up before the Namur road. Gen. Yon 
Jagow occupied Bry until all troops in the western part 
of the field had passed to the rear, when he withdrew June 17, 
to Marbais, and, joining Pirch's brigade at that point, 
proceeded to Tilly. Thielmann's brigades and out- 
posts were so widely detached that it was long before 2 a.m. 
he could set his columns in motion from the position 
he had held throughout the battle, and the sun had 
risen when his rearguard marched. By morning Zieten's 
and Pirch's corps had collected at Tilly and Gentinnes, 
while Billow, who had come up thus far at nightfall, 
lay near by at Gembloux. Thus there remained in the 
presence of the enemy only a rear guard of cavalry and 
artillery, which continued in observation during most 
of the next day. Col. Von Eohl, who superintended 
the ordnance department of the army, had been equally 
prompt in removing the park of reserve ammunition 
from Gembloux to Wavre, whither he at once repaired 
to be ready to put the artillery in order for action as 
rapidly as it should arrive, — while before day couriers 

^^ Bliiclier was carried from the far as to allow a bottle of cLam- 

field to GentiuneS; some six miles in pagne, which revived the patient to 

the rear, where sm'gical aid was that extent that he prepared a dis- 

procured. Hia whole frame had re- patch, and delivered it to the bearer 

ceived a severe shock, which for a with the message, " Tell the King 

time stupefied him ; but vigorous that I had a cold night-drink [a 

rubbing with brandy proved so effi- " nightcap " — " Ich hatte halt nacht- 

cacious that the Marshal presently geti-unhen "], and that all wiU end 

recovered sufficiently to demand an well." Next day the brave old man 

application of the same remedy in- was again at his duties as com- 

ternally. This the doctor refused, mander, with undiminished ardour, 
but was obliged to compromise so 



4 A.M 



114 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

The Cam- Were Oil tlieii way to Maestricht, Cologne, Wesel, and 
w!ucrk)o. Minister, to order np additional supplies. The Prussian 
June 17. army had received a defeat, and a severe one, in con- 
sequence partly of the absence of Bidow's corps, through 
orders imperfectly expressed on the one hand and mis- 
apprehended on the other ; partly of the defective 
position taken up by Bllicher ; but especially because 
the old Marshal, in his headlong ardour and his eager- 
ness to deal a telling blow against the enemy, was 
tempted to go beyond the defensive fight which would 
have served to maintain his position until darkness 
should have brought a respite and an accession of forces 
from either Wellington or Bidow, or both. But the 
defeat was saved from being a disaster by the admirable 
firmness of both officers and men ; and further evil 
consequences to the Allied cause were averted by 
Gneisenau's prompt and orderly retreat upon a line 
parallel with that on which Wellington must retire, 
thus assuring that junction of the armies which Napo- 
leon's scheme had sought to prevent. ■ 

Napoleon, as if content with his victory — his last,—, 
made no effort whatever to grasp the advantages it 
offered ; but left the Prussians free to pursue their own 
devices without molestation. The original delays in 
commencing the battle, aggravated by that caused by 
D'Erlon's inopportune appearance and retirement, had 
deferred the result of his finely prepared and decisive 
grand attack until darkness had set in ; but he had 
then at hand the absolutely fresh corps of Lobau, while 
the Guard had known no fatigue until the closing 
moments of the action, and Grouchy had his cavalry 
in readiness to push on instantly. With resources such 
as these the Napoleon of former days would never have 
relinquished the pursuit of a defeated foe before it had 
been reduced to a rout. But, as " not a single ofiScer 



SECOND NIGHT — FRENCH INACTION. 



115 



had come in from ISTey, and as Lobau's were the only The Cam- 

fresh troo|)s that Napoleon had, the entu-e Guard being wlfterioo. 

overcome by fatigue, he thought it better to keep them June 16. 
near him, since, if the enemy should again assume an '^ *" 
offensive attitude, he had no other troops with which 
to oppose them."^^ So JSTapoleon left his soldiers to 



^^ The quotation is from Thiers, 
and constitutes his explanation of 
Napoleon's much-censured inaction. 
Even Thiers is constrained to say, 
as to the Prussians, " They ought 
not to have heen allowed a moment's 
rest next day, but constantly pressed, 
so that those who had left their 
ranks should be entirely cut off and 
their army as much reduced by the 
pursuit as it would have been by the 
battle itself." Napoleon at Fleurus 
learned, but merely in general terms, 
Thiers says, "that Ney had only 
succeeded in arresting the progress 
of the English ; " he then prepared 
the necessary orders for the morrow, 
and " flung himself on a bed to re- 
fresh himself by a few hours' sleep. 
He was up again at 5." Thiers does 
not state, however, — as does the 
Marquis de Grouchy, grandson of 
the Marshal, in his Mernoires clu 
Marechal de Grouchy, — that Grouchy 
had prepared for the pursuit, as a 
matter of course, and held his horse- 
men waiting orders. Learning, to 
his surprise, that the Emperor had 
left the field without issuing any in- 
structions for his right wing, Grouchy 
followed him to Fleurus, where, in- 
stead of obtaining orders, he was told 
that Napoleon was ill and asleep, and 
none of his staff dared waken him. 
Soult, the Major-General, refused to 
take the responsibility of giving any 
orders or even counsel, and Grouchy 
had no resource but to retura to his 



command and push out reconnois- 
sances in its immediate vicinity. 
Early next morning Grouchy again 
repaired to Fleurus, and — notwith- 
standing Thiers' assertion that Na- 
poleon was " up again at 5 " — he 
again encountered Soult's refusal 
either to waken his master or to give 
orders ; and he was compelled to 
wait until 8 o'clock before the ap- 
pearance of Napoleon, who then 
dawdled away the rest of the morn- 
ing before he would give his orders 
— too late, as it proved, to serve any 
useful purpose. = Critics more com- 
petent than Thiers have recognised 
Napoleon's culpability in not push- 
ing the Prussian retreat instantly. 
Thus, Jomini, in his Life of Napoleon, 
states that when D'Erlon was per- 
emptorily recalled by Ney, he left 
" the division of Durutte between 
Villers-Peruiu and St. Amand, to 
co-operate if necessary on Bry." 
Then he puts into Napoleon's mouth 
this apology for his inaction — 'Jl 
did Jiot know that Durutte passed 
the night on the flank of the Prus- 
sian line of retreat, so near that his 
advanced guards heard distinctly the 
noise caused by the march of their 
train and the confusion of their 
columns. Had I known this, I should 
have pushed these troops forward to 
harass the retreat, and, in spite of 
the darkness of the night and the 
failure of the intended co-operation 
[by Nej^], I might have gained much 
2 



I I 6 QUA TRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



tlieir rest, and returned to Fleurus for the night, and 
thus let shp his last opportunity to destroy his enemies 
in detail. 

On the Quatre Bras side of the field Ney had nothing 
to do but maintain his present position until he should 
receive further orders and be informed what the result 
had been at Ligny and what the Emperor next intended. 
Although deprived in the day's fight of five of the eight 
infantry divisions which had been promised him, he had 
succeeded in holding back the English from aiding 
their allies — which, perhaps, was quite as much as he 
could advantageously have attempted in any case, since 
the movement upon Bltlcher's rear which Napoleon 



by a well-regulated night pursuit." 
-Cliarras follows out this idea. 
Having remarked that the results 
of Ligny were considerable, though 
dearly paid for, he continues, " But, 
considerable as they were, they 
should have been complete to meet 
the exigencies of Napoleon's situa- 
tion. The aim of the French ge- 
neral . . . was to prevent the junction 
of Bliicher and Wellington ; and, so 
far, nothing indicated that this had 
been attained." A man of Bliicher's 
known temperament, Oharras urges, 
was certain to fall back in such a 
direction as to join his ally ; " and, 
if he effected this, the plan of the 
French general was ruined from its 
foundation." He points out the grave 
error of not attacking early in the 
morning — at the time, that is, when 
Reille found Napoleon prostrated at 
Oharleroi (note 31, page 57), — when 
Bliicher had only Zieten's corps and 
3 of Thielmann's divisions, and must 
either have been driven off toward 
Namur, or have had his army " put 
beyond the condition of enterprising 
anything for a long time." He counts 



as a second error the neglect to 
throw D'Erlon's corps, when it was 
at hand, upon the Prussian right, 
which would have been decisive. 
" Formerly," he says, " Napoleon 
would have acted altogether dif- 
ferently : now' he was enfeebled 
{faihli). This is why the 1st corps 
remained useless ! this is why Blii- 
cher escaped disaster ! " The third 
error was the neglect to use Lobau's 
corps. Lastly, the victory, though 
delayed, should have been employed 
to cut off Bliicher from joining Wel- 
lington. " This he [Napoleon] should 
have prevented at any cost, and he 
could have prevented it by a prompt, 
vigorous, implacable pursuit of the 
beaten army." = The full explanation 
of his failure to act in this manner is 
contained in the incident of Grouchy's 
finding him ill and in bed at Fleurus, 
and in such a mental condition that 
Soult dared not disturb him — the 
continuance, doubtless, of the state of 
depression in which Reille had found 
him in the morning (see note 31, 
page 57). 



SECOND NIGHT — THE ENGLISH. 



117 



ordered liim to make would have exposed his own TheCam- 
flank to Welhngton's attack, and was not to be thought waterioo. 
of after the strength of the Enghsh began to accu- june 16. 
mulate.^* Here the night passed quietly except for '^ *' 
some unimportant collisions between the pickets of the 
two armies. 

The EngUsh during the night received considerable 
reinforcements, chiefly of British cavalry and the re- 
mainder of the reserve, bringing up their strength by 
morning to about 45,000.'^^ Wellington had issued 
orders directing troops yet to the westward to move 
next day upon Quatre Bras and Genappe. He was 
without tidings from Ligny — owing to the neglect shown 
to the wounded aide-de-camp who bore Bliicher's mes- 
sage, — and apprehended a French success in that quarter 
which might sever his communication with Blticher. 



®* Charras' commentary upon 
Ney's work for this day is as fol- 
lows : — " Deprived of the aid of 
D'Erlon and of Girard's division, Ney 
rendered an immense service, such 
as perhaps only he, with his pro- 
digious energy, could render : he 
prevented Wellington from appear- 
ing on the battlefield of Ligny ; he 
rendered vain the promise of the 
English general to the Prussian — the 
promise which had decided the latter 
to await the shock of Napoleon. . . . 
Ney could have done no more than 
he did : and he did immensely — it 
must he repeated — in preventing 
Wellington from carrying to Blhcher 
a succour which would certainly have 
given a different issue to the battle 
of Ligny." 

•^^ The happy-go-lucky manner in 
which the Duke of Wellington's 
troops were tumbled into the field, 
anyhow, has appeared from the pre- 
vious narrative. Ohesney notes that 



" he at dark, thirty hours after his 
first warning, had only present at 
Quatre Bras three-eighths of his in- 
fantry, one-third of his guns, and 
one-seventh of his cavalry. Truly," 
adds the critic, " in holding his own, 
the great Englishman owed some- 
thing that day to Fortune !" Charras 
gives a variation of the same idea. 
Speaking of Wellington's delibera- 
tion on the 1 4th, he says, " If he 
had had before him the Napoleon of 
Italy and of Ratisbon, he would have 
paid dearly the next day for his pro- 
longed sluggishness," The follow- 
ing observation is Chesney's : " The 
Allies this day, owing to Billow's 
mistake and Wellington's delibera- 
tion, only brought into action forces 
actually less than Napoleon's army ; 
but Napoleon's reserving Lobau, and 
missing D'Erlon, caused him to fight 
at both points of contact with infe- 
rior numbers." 



ii8 



QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



His possession of Qiiatre Bras, however, made his posi- 
tion satisfactory in any case- — if Bliicher had maintained 
his position at Ligny, he could join him there in the 
morning and assail Napoleon with the united armies ; 
if Bliicher had been worsted, the Duke, retiring along 
his own line of operations, would still unite with him 
between Quatre Bras and Brussels. 

The Prussians continued during the day the retreat 
which had been so well advanced in the night. The 
movement to Wavre, though it involved great present 
inconvenience by the sacrifice of their base of supply 
on the Ehine, was the only one by which the Prussians 
could form a junction in the first instance with Billow's 
corps, and then with the English, since the conforma- 
tion of the country forbade the use of any more westerly 
route. ^"^ Gneisenau therefore ordered a new line of 



^® "The natural base of supply for 
the Prussian army being the lower 
Rhine/' Ohesney explains, " their 
communication to it through the 
Fleurus country would turn due 
eastward through Namur and Liege ; 
while that of Wellington's army, if 
collected in the same district, would 
pass northward by or near Brussels 
to the seaports of Antwerp and 
Ostend, which connected it with 
England. The lines would meet in 
fact at a right angle, the apex of 
which was the cross-roads of Quatre 
Bras. If either of the armies should 
begin to retire along the line which 
led to its respective base, it would 
at once be separating from the other ; 
and every mile of retreat would give 
so much the larger opening between 
their flanks, and thus increase the 
chances of a French army desiring 
to deal singly with them. ... It 



seemed to [Napoleon] more than 
probable that whichever of the Allies 
was defeated would be naturally 
tempted to . . secure his own direct 
retreat. He knew Bliicher was too 
Practical a soldier not to recognise 
the immense inconvenience which it 
would be, in case of prolonged hos- 
tilities, to abandon the Namur-Li6ge 
line and open a new one from Prus- 
sia to supply his army by." So 
assured was he of this foregone con- 
clusion that '' we find him wi-iting 
his first letter to Ney on the morning 
of the 17th in the following positive 
terms : ' The Prussian army has been 
put to the rout ; General Pajol is 
pursuing it on the roads to Namur 
and Liege.' " = Of the route by way 
of Wavre Chesney says, " Between 
the road from Gembloux to Wavre 
and that from Quatre Bras to Wa- 
terloo, the country is cut up by the 



THIRD DAY — PRUSSIAN RETREAT. II9 

supply to be opened through Louvain, and the troops The cam- 
to fall back upon Wavre — Zieten's and Pirch's corps by mterioo. 
the roads through Tilly, Gentinnes, and Mont St. Gui- June 17. 
bert ; Thielmann's by way of Gembloux ; while Billow 
was to inarch through Walhain and Corbaix to Dion- 
le-Mont, within 3 miles of Wavre, and there to take 
a position and throw out rearguards to protect the 
concentrated army against the pursuit of the French. 
These operations were successfully accomphshed with- 
out any molestation, and by nightfall the entire Prussian 
force was collected about Wavre — the corps of Zieten 
on the left (western) bank of the Dyle, those of Pirch, 
Thielmann, and Billow on its right, — ready in every 
respect to resume offensive operations, though with but 
a scanty supply of food in consequence of their severed 
communications. One mistake was made in the dispo- 
sition of the corps — the designation of Billow's to act 
as the rear guard, because of its having not yet been 
in action, while, for the same reason, it was to lead 
the advance to Waterloo, — an arrangement which in- 
volved the loss of valuable hours next day. Cavalry 
patrols, toward evening and through the night, were 
pushed toward the Namur-Louvain road on the left, 
and on the right into the district between the Dyle and 
Lasne — one of the reconnoitring parties moving far 
enough westward to observe before nightfall the French 
army in its march along the Brussels road. Thus 

various heads of the river Dyle, each astonished to find in this region high 
making a deep valley with marshy mountains, profound ravines, like the 
meadows on the streams, and ren- chains of the Alps and the Pyrenees, 
dering military movements across across which it would be difficult to 
the district difficult." Hence the transport artillery." Charras en- 
necessity of the detour by way of dorses this observation, saying that 
Wavre to Waterloo. Gen. Lamarque, the roads which now make the coun- 
in his Notice sur les Cent Jours, says try practicable have been constructed 
of this district, " The country offers since 181 5, 
great difficulties : one is thoroughly 



I20 QUATEE BE AS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

Bliicher felt himself justified in his characteristic re- 
sponse to Wellington's inquiry whether his aid might 
be counted upon on the morrow — " I shall not come 
with two corps only, but with my whole army ; upon 
this understanding, however, that, should the French 
not attack us on the i8th, we shall attack them on the 
19th." '^^ 

At Quatre Bras in the early morning both English 
and French were at a loss to know how to act until 
they could get information what had taken place at 
Ligny. The Duke of Wellington was on horseback at 
dawn, and rode from Genappe to the outposts held by 
the cavalry that had arrived since the battle, to learn 
what had been ascertained at the front. From Sir 
Hussey Vivian, whose (6th) brigade of light cavalry 
was posted on the left, he found that the French had 
given no sign of movement, while a picket that had 
pushed on toward the position of the Prussians brought 
intelligence that they no longer occupied it. The Duke 
discerned through a telescope French ■ vedettes on the . 
plain, evidently communicating between Ney's force 
and Napoleon's — a circumstance, taken in connection 
with the disappearance of the Prussians, which sug- 
gested that Napoleon might have passed the Namur 

^' Thiers, a ivopos of Bliiclier's yesterday afternoon, about 3 o'clock, 

doings on this day, and especially of with 1 20,000 men of the line. The 

the letter, exclaims, " What noble fight lasted till the night. Both 

and energetic patriotism in an old armies lost many men. To-day I 

man of seventy-three ! " Thus wrote have drawn nearer to Lord Wel- 

the distinguished historian at the age lington, and in a few days there will 

of sixty-five. It is worthy of note probablj^ be another battle. . . . We 

that he was himself seventy-four shall have battles oftener till we are 

years old when called to the Presi- again in Paris. My troops fought 

dency of France in 1871, to repair like lions, but we were too weak, 

a new overthrow at the hands of Two of my corps were not with 

Prussia. = Bliicher ^^^:ote also to his me [?J. Now I have drawn them 

family as follows : — " Wavre, June all to me." 
J 7, 181 5. — Napoleon attacked me 



THIED DAY— WELLINGTON'S RETEEAT. 121 

road and be manoeuvring upon his left and rear while The Cam- 
Nej was to attack him in front. He therefore sent out w!atoi°oo. 
a strong patrol of hussars along the Namur road to June 17. 
learn how matters stood, and observed that the French 
vedettes immediately signalled the movement to their 
rear. The patrol advanced into the close vicinity of 
the French outposts and heard from Gen. Zieten, 
who still remained at Sombreffe, both the result of the 
battle of Ligny and the present movements of the 
Prussians, and with this information it returned to Wel- 
lington. The necessity of a retreat was at once mani- 
fest ; and its destination was determined by the arrival 
of a Prussian officer bringing from Bllicher himself, 
who had already established his headquarters at Wavre, 
tidings that his army was now concentrating at that 
point. Welhngton immediately wrote back informing 
Bllicher of his own plans, and proposing to accept 
battle on the next day at the position in front of 
Waterloo which had been mapped out a week before,^^ 
if the Field-Marshal would support him with two of 
his corps. In the retreat which was now ordered — to 
the great surprise of the men and subordinate officers 
of the Anglo-Allied army, who knew nothing of the 
battle of Ligny, and supposed that their day's work 
would be to dispose of Ney's French in their front, — - 
Welhngton purposed retarding the pursuit by the 
French throughout the day, both to gain time for the 
necessary slow withdrawal of his main force through 
the winding street and narrow bridge of Genappe, and 
to insure the co-operation of the Prussians before a 
general action could be forced upon him. The move- 
ment was so far dehberate that the men were ordered 
in the first instance to cook their dinner, while the 
Duke attended to dispatches that morning received 

®^ See text, page 15. 



122 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

from England, and issued orders prescribing the line of 
march to be taken by his troo]3S still lying toward the 
June 17. west — those under Lord Hill, at Mvelles to move di- 
rectly to Waterloo, and those still farther westward to 
go from Enghien to Hal and remain there to cover 
10 A.M. Brussels from the south-west. The infantry first moved 
to the rear, their retreat being effectually masked by 
the outposts of cavalry and light troops still in the 
front ; and it was not until the main body was well on 
its way toward Genaj^pe and another bridge lower 
down the stream, that the advance line of skirmishers 
— who covered the front from the wood of Bossu, 
before Gemioncourt, and to the Namur road east of 
11.30 A.M. Piermont — fell back behind the cavalry. These were 
drawn up in two lines in the rear of the Famur road, — 
the light-horse forming the first line and throwing out 
pickets to replace the withdrawn infantry, and the 
heavy cavalry being in their rear. With these and the 
troops of horse-artillery as his rearguard, Welhngton 
2 P.M. remained in position until JSFapoleon came up with the 
mass of his army and, joining Ney, made ready to press 
the pursuit. 

Ney found himself confronted in the morning not 
merely by the army which had repulsed his attack the 
day before, but by large reinforcements, whose strength 
he had no means of estimating. Assuming that, if 
Napoleon had succeeded at Ligny, he would unite with 
him in a combined front-and-flank attack upon the 
EngHsh, but that, if the Emperor had failed, his own 
advance would only entangle him between the English 
and Prussian armies, Ney necessarily remained at rest 
9 A.M. until he could hear from Napoleon. Neither informa- 
tion nor orders having been furnished him, he sent to 
request them,^^ and received in answer a dispatch from 

®^ " It is difficult to believe," says Charras, " but there is no doubt 



THIRD DAY — NET'S POSITION. I 23 

Soult, at Fleurns, of which the following are the essen- The Cam- 
tial points : — " The Prussian army has been put to rout ; watoioo. 
Gen. Pajol is in pursuit of them on the roads to Namur June 17. 
and Liege. . . . The Emperor is going to the mill of 
Bry, where the road from Namur to Quatre Bras 
passes ; it is possible the English army may act in your 
front ; in that case the Emperor will march directly 
upon it by the road to Quatre Bras, while you attack it 
in front with your divisions, which ought now to be 
united, and this army will be destroyed in an instant. 
. . . The intention of His Majesty is that you take 
position at Quatre Bras, in accordance with the orders 
given you ; but if this cannot possibly be done, send a 
detailed account immediately, and the Emperor will 
move as I have said ;■ — if, on the contrary, there is only 
a rearguard, attack it and take position. To-day is 
required to terminate this operation, to complete the 
munitions, to rally stragglers, and to call in detach- 
ments." ^° Ney had at this time before him not " only 
a rear guard," but the entire reinforced army of Wel- 
lington ; and he naturally awaited the promised ap- 

that, at the time when Flahaut " to order him [Ney] to march boldly 
[Ney's messenger to Napoleon] and speedily to Quatre Bras, when 
quitted Frasnes, they did not know the English, seeing 40,000 men ad- 
there the result of the battle of yancing along the Namur road, 
Ligny, and he brought the first would immediately decamp, fearing 
news of the combat at Quatre Bras. they might be taken in flank if 
From 9 o'clock in the evening tiU they offered a prolonged resistance." 
9 o'clock in the morning there had Thiers leaves his readers in ignorance 
been no communication between the that this advance was to be made 
general-in-chief and the commander " if there is only a rearguard ; " he 
of the left wing of his army, sepa- then proceeds to inveigh against 
rated from one another by a distance Ney's inaction. This order Thiers 
of less than three leagues. The in- says, was " given at 7 in the morn- 
curiosity was equal on both sides." ing." A previous note (63, page 
'^° The French original of the 115), shows the impossibility of 
dispatch is given in full in Siborne, this : the follo^ang note viill il- 
Appendix XXVII. Thiers considers lustrate Thiers' trustworthiness as 
it sufficient to say of it that it was to hours. 



124 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



proacli of the Emperor by the Namur road. So soon 
as he learned that the Emperor's troops were actually 
17. m motion, he commenced the advance of his own ; and 
it was at this time that he received the following 
dispatch, the second on this day : — 

" To M. the Marshal, Prince of Moskowa, 

" 4th Corps d'Armee, at Gosselies. 

" Before Ligny, the 17th at noon. 

" Monsieur the Marshal, the Emperor has just placed in 
position before Marbais one corps of infantry and the Imperial 
Gruard ; His Majesty charges me to tell you that his intention 
is that you shall attack the enemy at Quatre Bras, to chase 
them from their position, and that the corps at Marbais will 
second your operations ; His Majesty is going to Marbais, and 
waits your report with impatience. 

"The Marshal of the Empire, Major G-eneral, 
" Duke of Dalmatia." ^^ 



^^ This dispatch has been quoted 
in full as an illustration of Thiers' 
methods of narration. His version 
of the dispatch is that Napoleon 
^' sent fresh orders to the Marshal 
[Ney] to advance without paying 
any regard to the English, whom he 
was to attack in flank if they re- 
sisted." Thiers now goes on to say, 
" He next ordered Lohau to hasten 
his march to Quatre Bras, and then 
expedited the departure of the Guard. 
He was preparing to leave himself, 
in order to direct the movement in 
person, when he received a report 
from Gen. Pajol, who had been in 
pursuit of the Prussians since dawn. 
. . . Marshal Grouchy was with him 
at the moment. To him he gave his 
instructions verbally " — the famous 
instructions about which whole li- 
braries of controversy have since 
arisen, but against which Grouchy 
expostulated at the time, only 



yielding to Napoleon's reiterated ar- 
guments and positive order. Now all 
this — the letter to Ney, the getting 
off a corps of infantry and then the 
Guard, the receipt of Pajol's report, 
the determination of the orders con- 
sequent upon it, their delivery to 
Grouchy, and the dispute about them 
— all this must have taken time, 
scarcely less than an hour or an hour 
and a half. The time of the letter, 
which began this train of events, 
was " noon." But Thiers has sup- 
pressed all reference to the time ; 
and he tells us that, after the occur- 
rence of all the things above enume- 
rated, " Napoleon left the heights of 
Bry at about eleven in the morning, 
and advanced at a gallop along the 
highroad from Namur to Quatre 
Bras." In a foot-note, indicated after 
the word " moi'ninff" as italicised 
above, Thiers says, " I state these 
hours on the best authority. Marshal 



THIRD DAY — FRENCH DELAY. I 25 

As soon as Ney discovered tlie withdrawal of the TheCam- 
English light troops, and that cavalry only were before witerioo. 
him, he brought his own cavalry forward and held it June 17. 
in readiness to advance upon the Allied front simulta- 
neously with the main body of the French army, whicli 
was now moving from Marbais along the JSTamur road 
upon its flank. 

The main body of the French about Ligny rested 
quietly in their bivouacs during the morning hours, 
awaiting orders from the Emperor to set them in motion. 
Their cavalry vedettes, within half a mile of Thiel- 
mann's rearguard, were unaware when it withdrew 4 A.M. 
after sunrise, and no attempt was made to discover 
what direction the Prussians had taken until they had 
retired beyond observation. Then Pajol, with Soult's 
(4th) hussar division of his (ist) cavalry corps, under- 
took the pursuit ; but directed it, not toward Wavre, 
but along the road to Namur, upon which Teste's 
(21st) infantry division of Lobau's (6th) corps followed 
in support^'^ Grouchy, meantime, anxious to begin in 

Groucliy mentions others ; but, as dispatch to Ney, already cited, that 
will be seen hereafter, he makes con- the Prussians " had been put to 
slant mistakes as to the time, and rout " and were flying eastward " to 
his assertions in this respect are Namur and Liege." According to 
completely erroneous." The persist- Thiers, the order to Pajol — who was 
ent system of garbling and false- under Grouchy'scommand — had been 
hood, by which Thiers follows Na- issued over night, at the same time 
poleon in shifting his faults upon as that to Ney, which is in fact dated 
Ney and Grouchy, cannot in every June 17th. According to Grouchy 
instance be pointed out -within the and to his grandson's Memoirs of 
.limits , of these pages. Where this him (see note 63, page 1 1 5), all move- 
narrative is in conflict with that of ments of the cavalry up to noon of 
Thiers, its justification will be found the 17th were made by the Marshal 
for the most part in Ohesney's expo- on his own authority ; since his re- 
sure of the great French advocate's peated efforts to get access to the 
shameless misrepresentations. Emperor were unsuccessful until 8 
''^ This misdirection of the pur- v.M., and even then it was impossible 
suit was in accordance wdth Napo- to elicit from him any orders for four 
Icon's idea, as shown in his first or five hours longer. Thiers rejects 



126 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



earnest the pursuit for wliicli he had prepared on the 
evening before, went at daybreak for the second time 



these statements on a pi-iori grounds. 
" Marshal Grouchy," he says in a 
note devoted to the topic, "■ has 
sought to show that it was on the 
17th, and not on the 1 8th, that time 
had been lost, and, in a very inexact 
recital, represents Napoleon as losing 
his time in the fashion of a tallfative, 
idle, and irresolute prince. In this 
portrait we could scarcely recognise 
the man who had come from Elba 
to Paris in twenty days, who in two 
days had suddenly established him- 
self between the Prussians and Eng- 
lish, even before they had suspected 
bis approach. Nobody will believe 
that Napoleon, who when he could 
have awaited an attack in Cham- 
pagne, had boldly advanced into 
Belgium, that he might have an 
opportunity of surprising and suc- 
cessfully combating the armies of 
his enemies, had suddenly become 
weak and irresolute." This incredi- 
ble thing, however, is precisely what 
Napoleon's movements on the morn- 
ing of June 17th force us to believe. 
Napoleon's own words — suppressed 
by Thiers in his garbled account of 
the first despatch to Ney — show that 
he intended no vigorous work that 
day ; for, after ordering and promis- 
ing to co-operate in the movement 
on Q,uatre Bras, he continues, " La 
journee d'aujourd'hui est necessaire 
2}our terminer cette operation, et pour 
completer les munitions, rallier les 
militaires isoles, et fnire rentrer les 
detachetnents." In Napoleon's front 
was no enemy at all ; he could have 
seized without opposition the defile 
of Genappe, by which alone the 
English could approach the Prus- 
sians: he could thus have fallen 



upon Wellington in flank and rear 
while Ney assailed him in front, — 
and thus, perhaps, have realised his 
plan of beating the Allies m detail. 
But he lost these hours, which the 
Allies improved to effect their junc- 
tion, so that on the 17th he had 
already also lost the battle of the 
1 8th. = The impression made by this 
idleness upon the army is embodied 
in the homely words of Erckmann- 
Ohatrian's conscript : — " The Prus- 
sian rearguard had just left Som- 
breffe, and it was a question whether 
we should pursue them. Some said 
we ought to send out the light-horse 
to pick up the prisoners. But no 
one paid any attention to them. 
The Emperor knew what he was 
doing. But I remember that every- 
body was astonished notwithstand- 
ing, because it is the custom to 
profit by victories. The veterans 
had never seen anything like it. 
They thought the Emperor was pre- 
paring some grand stroke ; that Ney 
had turned the enemy's line, and so 
forth." Charras expresses, in more 
elegant terms, the same thought as 
the conscript : — " Not to pursue the 
vanquished with the sword at his 
back, to leave him time to recover 
himself, to re-form, to bring up rein- 
forcements — this was a strange thing 
to legions accustomed to Napoleonic 
tactics ! ' The Napoleon whom we 
have known exists no more,' said 
Vandamme roughly to his officers ; 
'our yesterday's success will have 
no result.' Vandamme was become 
a railer {frondeur). But Gerard, 
wholly devoted to his chief, ex- 
pressed the same thought in other 
terms ; ' he deplored the incompre- 



l^HIRD DAY — FEENCH DELAY. I 27 

to Fleiiriis to procure orders, but was obliged to wait xheCaiB- 
some hours in the anteroom, when he was informed that water?oo. 
he was to accompany the Emperor to the scene of yester- june 17. 
day's battle. The Emperor rode in his carriage first to 
St. Amand, then over the field, and through Ligny, 
examining the traces of the struggle ; he gave direc- 
tions for the care of the wounded ; he reviewed the 
soldiers of most of the corps, assuring them of his 
satisfaction with their conduct ; ^^ he addressed the 
Prussian wounded ofiicers upon the past course and 
future policy of Prussia — producing a " scene " which, 
Thiers says, was " published in all the journals," and 
was " calculated to calm the German passions should 
victory continue to smile on us for twenty-four hours 
longer ; " he then rode to Bry, where " he conversed 
with his accustomed ease with his generals on various 
subjects, — war, politics, the different parties that di- 
vided France, Royahsts and Jacobins." He then re- 
ceived from a reconnoitring party intelligence that they 
had found the English in possession of the Quatre Bras 
road, and had seen no movement on the part of Ney ; 
and upon this he dictated his second, or "noon," dis- 12 m 

hensible, the irremediable delays,' at 6 in the morning he should have 
The soldier saw in it the operation been upon the heels of the Prussians, 
of some black treason which para- or — as well — have fallen with all 
lysed his energy, for, in his eyes, his forces upon Wellington. . . . 
Napoleon was infallible and un- Undoubtedly the Emperor had 
wearying." Jomini, in his Summary powerful motives for resigning him- 
of the Campaign, treats the delay as self to such inactivity ; but these 
simply inexplicable. He says, " To motives have never reached us." = 
those who can recall the astonishing His malady, already described, Re- 
activity that presided over the events counts for it. 

of Ratisbon in 1809, of Dresden in ^^ "His mere presence delighted 
1 813, and of Champ-Aubert and them," says Thiers, '' and was a suf- 
Montmirail in 18 14, this time lost on ficient recompense for all their dan- 
Napoleon's part will always remain gers and sufferings. The time spent 
inexplicable. After a success such in gratifying and encouraging such 
as be had just achieved, it seems that sentiments was certainly not lost." 



128 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

patch to Ney, ordering an advance by the Marshal, 
m which he would co-operate. While Napoleon was 
directing the advance of Lobau's corps and the Guard 
toward Quatre Bras, he received a report from Pajol, 
who had met and captured a stray Prussian battery on 
the Namur road and routed with loss a squadron of 
horse that accompanied it, but, as he had found no evi- 
dence that the main body of the Prussians had passed 
in this direction, had turned northward from the 
Namur road, as a supporting brigade of Excelmans' 
had previously done, finding traces of the enemy to- 
ward Gembloux. Napoleon now disclosed his plans of 
operation — to Grouchy he gave a force of 33,000 men, 
with which he was to pursue the Prussians, while with 
the remainder of his army he would himself join Ney 
and move upon the English. The instructions given by 
Napoleon to Grouchy were verbal, and were to the 
effect that he was to follow the Prussians, who — so 
Napoleon as yet supposed — were doubtless on the way 
to Namur, to attack them, to keep them in sight, and 
to communicate with the Imperial headquarters by the 
paved Namur road. Grouchy demurred to this plan, 
representing that the Prussians had already a start of 
some fifteen hours, that the troops he was to lead 
were now so scattered that it would take time to get 
them in motion, and that the presumed line of retreat 
would carry him constantly farther from the main body 
of the French, with little prospect of frustrating any 
designs of the Prussians in the direction of the Meuse, 
and he urged that he might unite in the Emperor's ad- 
vance against the Enghsh, — all which was answered by 
the Emperor's insisting upon the execution of the order 
already given. Leaving Grouchy to the discharge of 
his unwelcome task. Napoleon rode westward to join 
Ney. On reaching Marbais, — -whence his troops were 



THIRD DAY — NAPOLEON'S ADVxVNCE. 



129 



already advancing upon Quatre Bras, as were Ney's also The cam- 
from Frasnes, — Napoleon received reports from tlie wa^terioo. 
reconnoitring cavalry which caused him to doubt the june 17. 
accuracy of his assumption that the Prussians were 
moving away from the English, and he dictated to 
Marshal Bertrand, in the absence of Soult, a written 
order to Grouchy directing his advance toward Gem- 
bloux. Eiding on again until he met Ney, " Napoleon 2 p.m. 
waited with impatience until the troops had defiled at 
Quatre Bras, a movement whicli was not completed 
until three o'clock."^* 



3 p-M. 



''^ The quotation is from Thiers, 
and indicates the hour of the Empe- 
ror's arrival at Quatre Bras — 3 p.m. : 
a previous date, 12 M., has been 
fixed by that of Napoleon's second 
order to Ney : the order of events 
between these two hours, as given in 
the text, is precisely that given by 
Thiers, and accords very weU with 
the statement that Grouchy's verbal 
orders were given at i p.m., which is 
the statement of Grouchy himself. 
But Thiers,having entirely suppressed 
the date of the " noon " dispatch, and 
thus disencumbered himself of that 
time-mark, affirms that Grouchy's 
orders were given before 1 1 o'clock 
(see note 71, page 124), and makes 
this the foundation of his charge 
that Grouchy's delays lost Waterloo. 
The French historian has a similar 
charge to establish against Ney, and 
he insinuates it by saying of the 
Marshal's meeting with the Emperor 
at Quatre Bras, " He sought to ex- 
cuse his tardiness, and Napoleon, not 
wishing to increase his agitation, 
contented himself with some not 
very severe remarks. But the sol- 
diers, who saw that the Brave des 
braves had committed some fault, 
whispered among themselves that 



Rougeot, as they called the illustri- 
ous Marshal, had got a good scold- 
ing," Ohesney, denying that Ney 
occasioned any delay by not moving 
earlier, says, '^Heymes, who was 
with Ney all this day, has contra- 
dicted in the flattest manner the no- 
tion that the Emperor found any 
fault with the Marshal for the quietude 
which was the direct consequence of 
his orders. But such evidence as 
this can hardly add force to that 
which those orders themselves af- 
ford." = Thiers' idea that the defiling 
of the French troops through Quatre 
Bras vvas completed at 3 o'clock, is 
correct only as to the vanguard, for 
it was many hours before the mass 
of the army had passed. Erckmann- 
Chatrian's conscript, who is apt to 
be more explicit than the more pre- 
tentious historians, and fully as cor- 
rect, says of this movement, " At 8 
o'clock we reached Quatre Bras. 
These are two houses opposite each 
other. . . . They were both full of 
wounded men. It was here that 
Marshal Ney had given battle to the 
English, to prevent them from going 
to the support of the Prussians along 
the road by which we had just 
come. He had but 20,000 men 



K 



130 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



The Cam- 
paign of 
Waterloo. 



June 



17. 



The French troops which led the advance against 
the Enghsh were Subervie's hght-cavalry division, sup- 
ported by Milhaiid's cuirassiers, with horse-artillery, 
— after which were to follow in order D'Erlon's and 
then Lobau's infantry corps, Kellermann's cuirassiers, the 
Guard, and lastly Eeille's corps, who were afforded as 
long a rest as possible after their hard fighting of the 
day before. As the French horse moved from Marbais 
up the Namur road, their approach was observed by 
Wellington, who was with his staff, in advance of 
Vivian's cavalry, which held the extreme left of the 
Allied line, fronting the road and eastward of Quatre 
Bras. By this time the English infantry had wholly 
passed Genappe, and it only remained for the cavalry 



against 40,000, and yet Nicliolas 
Oloutier, the tanner, maintains, to- 
day even, that lie ought to have 
sent half his troops to attack the 
Prussian rear, as if it were not 
enough to stop the English. To 
such people everything is easy, but 
if they were in command it would 
he easy to rout them with four men 
and a corporal." This frightful ex- 
ample of Nicholas Oloutier might 
have been studied profitably by INI. 
Thiers before he exposed the defec- 
tive tactics by which Ney lost 
Quatre Bras, and pointed out how 
that novice in war might, by other 
dispositions, have won the day, — 



also by the Rev. Mr. Abbott, who 
has argued that all subsequent mis- 
haps occurred because Ney did not 
^' leav^e a suitable force behind the 
intrenchments to prevent Wellington 
from coming to the aid of the Prus- 
sians," and ^' hasten to cut off the 
retreat of Bliicher." Unfortunately 
for Ney, the " intrenchments " — 
whose utility in an offensive battle, 
conducted chiefly by cavalry, is not 
obvious, — as well as the " suitable 
force," were not in his possession. = 
The force with which Napoleon fol- 
lowed the English, after joining 
Ney's troops with his own, was as 
follows : — 



D'Erlon's (ist) corps 20,000 men. 

Reille's (2d) corps 16,000 

Lobau's (6th) corps (less Teste's division) . . . 7,000 

Imperial Guard 19,000 

Domont's cavalry of Vandamme's (3d) corps . 1,000 

Subervie's division of Pajol's (ist) cavalry corps 1,500 

Kellermann's (3d) cavalry corps ...... 3,500 

Mi^haud's (4th) cavalry corps 3j5oo 



Total 



71,500 men and 240 guns. 



THIEU DAY — WELLINGTON'S RETREAT. 131 

to conduct tlieir own retreat. Sldrmishing had already The Cam- 
begun between Vivian's pickets and Subervie's advanc- wlerioo. 
ing lancers, when Wellington, after consultation with june 17. 
the Earl of Uxbridge, the general commanding the 
Anglo- Allied cavalry, concluded that it was undesirable 
to make a stand against so great a force of all arms as 
that which threatened them, while their own infantry 
support had passed beyond reach ; and the retreat was 
ordered. It was made in three columns — the central 
column, composed of heavy cavalry and two regiments 
of hght-horse, took the paved road to Brussels and 
the bridge at Genappe ; the left-hand column, Vande- 
leur's and Vivian's brigades, already in contact with the 
enemy, were to fall back, protecting that flank, and 
pass the stream by a bridge below Genappe ; while the 
right column was to follow roads leading to a bridge 
higher up the stream than Genappe, a route which 
sheltered them from any molestation by the pursuers. 
= 0n the left Vivian's outlying pickets were soon driven 
in by a sharp attack from several French squadrons, 
which were checked as they drew near by the English 
horse-batteries, when the French in turn brought artil- 
lery to their front and opened upon Vivian's brigade. 
Vandeleur's brigade was already in retreat, and Vivian 
now followed, the French crowding in great numbers 
upon both his flank and rear and annoying him with 
shells from their batteries. He therefore took advan- 
tage of a favourable rise in the ground, and had drawn 
up his rearmost regiment to charge as soon as the 
enemy should come within reach, when the operation 
was most unexpectedly interrupted. " The weather 
during the morning had been oppressively hot ; it was 
now a dead calm ; not a leaf was stuping ; and the 
atmosphere was close to an intolerable degree ; while a 
dark, heavy, dense cloud impended over the combatants. 

K 2 



132 QUA.TRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 



The Cam- 
paign of 
Waterloo. 

June 7. 



The 18th hussars were fully prepared, and awaited but 
the command to charge, when the brigade guns on the 
right commenced firing. . . . The concussion seemed 
instantly to rebound through the still atmosphere, and 
communicate, as an electric spark, with the heavily 
charged mass above. A most awfully loud thunder-clap 
burst forth, immediately succeeded by a rain which has 
never, ]:)robably, been exceeded in violence even within 
the tropics. In a very few mhiutes the ground became 
perfectly saturated, so much so that it was quite im- 
practicable for any rapid movement of the cavalry." '^^ 



'^^ The quotation is from Siborne. 
Thiers says of this sudden burst of 
rain, " In a few moments the whole 
country was changed into one vast 
marsh, through which neither man 
nor horse could pass. The troops of 
the different French corps d'armee 
were obliged to assemble on the two 
paved roads. . . . These were soon 
overcrowded, and soldiers of all arms 
were mingled in fearful confusion." 
The Erckmann-Chatrian conscript 
says, " I never saw worse weather, 
not even at the retreat from Leipzig 
when we were in Germany. The 
rain came down as if from a water- 
ing-pot, and we tramped on with 
our guns under our arms, with 
the capes of our cloaks over the locks, 
so wet that if we had been through 
a river it could not have been worse ; 
and such mud ! " The weather had 
been recognised as a most important 
factor in this campaign. From the 
time when Napoleon examined the 
sliy on the morning of June 1 5 (see 
page 2)7), it had been fair until now, 
with the exception of the short and 
apparently local rain at Ligny the 
night before — caused no doubt by 
the tremendous cannonade that had 
gone on through the afternoon, as 



this great rain was generated by the 
enormous consumption of gunpowder 
at Ligny and Quatre Bras. Hence- 
forth the condition of the roads 
and ground added double difficul- 
ties to the combatants, from Quatre 
Bras to Wavre. Victor Hugo's cele- 
brated screed on Waterloo in Les 
Miserables sets no bounds to the 
effects produced by the weather at 
this time. ".If it had not rained," 
he says, " in the night between the 
17th and 1 8th of June, 181 5, the 
fortune of Europe would have been 
changed ; a few drops of rain, more 
or less, made Napoleon oscillate. In 
order to make Waterloo the end of 
Austerlitz, Providence only required 
a little rain ; and a cloud crossing the 
sky at a season when rain was not 
expected was sufficient to overthrow 
an Empire. Why ? Because the 
ground was moist, and it was neces- 
sary for it to become firmer, that the 
artillery might mancsuvre. Napo- 
leon was an artillery officer, and al- 
ways showed himself one : all his 
battle plans were made for projectiles. 
Making artillery converge on a given 
point was his key to victory. . . . 
Driving in squares, pulverising regi- 
ments, breaking lines, destroying and 



THIRD DAY — WELLINGTON'S RETREAT. 133 

Pursuers and pursued were overcome by the fury of the The Cam- 
tempest, and attempted nothmg beyond skirmishmg, wlfterioo. 
until the Enghsh had fallen back as far as the bridge of June 17. 
Thuy. Here there was a stoppage, caused by the delay 
of the leading brigade, Vandeleur's, in crossing the little 
bridge ; and Vivian, having sent his battery across and 
ordered some of his men to dismount and hold the 
further end of the bridge with their carbines, protected 
with the 1st hussars the passage of his other two 
regiments. This eifected, he detached one of his 
squadrons toward the bridge ; but it was cut off by a 
bold rush of the French lancers, and compelled to 
cross the stream lower down ; while Vivian, as soon as 
all was seen to be clear, led the remainder of the 
regiment at a gallop to the bridge and across it, closely 
followed by the French, cheering as they pursued. 
But no sooner had the hussars passed than the French 
came under the fire of the dismounted men, who lined 
a hedge overlooking the bridge and the hollow road 
that ran up from it ; while, on the rising ground 
beyond, the brigade was drawn up in readiness to meet 
them. Here, accordingly, the French stayed their 
pursuit and turned aside to join their main body on 
the Brussels road ; and Vivian, followed only by a patrol , 
watching his movements, retired undisturbed to the 
position before Waterloo. = The central cavalry column, 
meanwhile, had been so far protected by Vivian's 
movement upon its left, which occupied the foremost 
of the French, that it was not pressed by the enemy 
until it reached Genappe, through which all passed 

dispersing masses — all this must be invincible for fifteen years. . . Had 

done by striking, strildng, striking the earth been dry, and the artillery 

incessantly, and he confided the task able to move, the action would have 

to artillery. It was a formidable begun at 6 a.m. It would have 

method, and, allied to genius, ren- been won and over by 2 p.m., three 

dered this gloomy pugilist of war hours before the Prussian interlude," 



134 QUATKE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

except Major Hodge's squadron of the yth hussars, 
which served as rearguard, and was now skirmishing 
warmly with the leaders of the pursuit, encountering 
them both on the road and beside it, in fields so softened 
by the rain that the horses sank to their knees and 
sometimes to the girths. Having gallantly protracted 
their defence long enough to .ensure the safe retirement 
of their comrades, the 7th hussars at last effected 
their own, troop by troop, and joined the remainder of 
the column drawn up behind the town.''^ The French 
force which had thus overtaken the centre cavalry 
column consisted of a mass of lancers and cuirassiers, 
some sixteen or eighteen squadrons strong, followed by 
the main body of the army under the Emperor himself. 
In order to check their advance while entangled in the 
difficult defile of Genappe, Lord Uxbridge had drawn 
up his two heavy brigades upon an elevation facing the 
northern entrance of the town, and some six or seven 
hundred yards distant from it, so as to cover the retire- 
ment of the light cavalry. Of these, the 7th hussars, 

''^ The witlidi'awal of tlie last filed his men from the left, and they 

troops left on the rear of the town passed through town and bridge at a 

was conducted with marked gal- run. " Dornberg," says Siborne, 

lantry by Lieut. Standish O'Grady, " had been some time riding about 

to whom Gen. Sir William Dornberg, with Lieut. O'Grady, and on taking 

the commander of the skirmishers, leave of him, on the French side of 

entrusted this duty, with the injunc- Genappe, shook his hand, while his 

tion to delay the enemy long enough manner and his observations suffi- 

for the sldrmishers to draw off, as ciently indicated that he considered 

the bridge within the town was so the service to be one of forlorn hope, 

narrow that they must pass it in file. and that he did not expect ever to 

Left thus alone, O'Grady led his see his young friend again. When 

troops at a trot up the road and en- the latter rejoined him on the other 

gaged the enemy until all English side of the town . . . and reported 

horsemen except his own had dis- that he had not lost a man or a 

appeared within the street ; then, horse, Dornberg exclaimed, ' Then 

retiring at a walk and occasionally Bonaparte is not with them : if he 

halting and fronting, he came to the were, not a man of you could have 

corner of the street, into which he escaped,' " 



THIRD DAY — WELLINGTON'S RETREAT. 135 

on passing through the town, had formed opposite its The Cam- 
entrance, while the 23d hght dragoons were posted in Watei-Uio. 
their support midway between them and the heavy June 17. 
cavahy in the rear. Soon approaching shouts an- 
nounced that the French had entered the town, and a 
number of their horsemen dashed in loose order from 
the mouth of the street, when they were taken to a 
man and found to be beside themselves with drink. 
Then appeared the head of the French column, a body 
of lancers who halted at the outlet on finding them- 
selves confronted by the rearguard, and there remained, 
the liouses confining them on either flank, while the 
rear of the column continued to press forward through 
the narrow winding street, until it formed a mass so 
jammed that movement of any kind was impossible.^"^ 

'''' The town of Genappe is closely had already proved a serious obstruc- 

"built along a single street, the high- tion to both armies, and was destined 

road from Charleroi to Brussels, the to be a death-trap to the French on 

bridge lying within the town, which their flight from Waterloo next day. 

is mostly on the Brussels side of the Southey, describing the latter event 

stream. The narrow tortuous defile in his Poefs Pilgrimage, says : — 

" That fatal town betray'd them to more loss ; 
Through one long street the only passage lay, 
And then the narrow bridge they needs must cross 

Where Dyle, a shallow streamlet, cross'd the way : 
For life they fled, — no thought had they but fear, 
And their own baggage check'd the outlet here. 

" Meantime, his guilty followers in disgrace, 

W^hose pride however now was beaten down, 
Some in the houses sought a hiding-place. 

While at the entrance of that fatal town 
Others, who yet some show of heart display'd, 
A short, vain eflibrt of resistance made ; — 

" Feeble and ill-sustain'd ! The foe burst through : 
With unabating heat they search'd around ; 
The wretches from their lurking-holes they drew, — 
Such mercy as the French had given they found ; 
Death had- more victims there in that one hour 
Than fifty years might else have render'd to his power," 



136 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

This delay lasted for about fifteen minutes, when Lord 
Uxbridge ordered a charge by the 7th hussars, who 
dashed upon the enemy, but encountered an impene- 
trable front of lance points, the bearers of which were 
so wedged between the houses on either side and the 
densely packed horsemen in their rear, that they could 
not give way if they would. For some time the hussars 
continued hacking at the lancers, the lancers parrying 
and thrusting with their weapons, until both Major 
Hodge, who led the foremost English squadron, and the 
French commanding officer had been killed, and neither 
party had gained an inch of ground. The French now 
estabhshed a battery of horse-artillery on the opposite 
side of the stream, under the direction of JSTapoleon 
himself, and the fire told so severely upon the hussars 
that they were compelled to fall back, and the French, 
issuing in numbers from the street, drove them upon 

" Here did we inn upon our pilgrim- auherge ; but when one of tliem in 

age," continues Soutliey in liis poetic the morning asked how we had passed 

manner, and in a note he adds, in the night, he observed that no one 

acknowledged prose, " At the Roy ever slept at Genappe — it was im- 

(VEspagne, where we lodged, Wei- possible, because of the continual 

lington had his headquarters on the passing of posts and coal-carts." Of 

17th, Bonaparte on the i8th, and the inn, to lapse once more into 

Bliicher on the 19th. The coach- Southey's poetry, he tells us : — 
man told us that it was an assez honiie 

" . . , They show'd us here 
The room where Brunswick's body had been laid, 

Where his brave followers, bending o'er the bier, 
In bitterness the vow of vengeance made ; 

Where Wellington beheld the slaughter'd Chief, 

And for a while gaA^e way to manly grief." 

As to the nature of Southej^'s own man in patriotism, but without con- 
grief for the Duke of Brunswick, we duct, without principle, without gra- 
must turn again to his prose— a letter titude." = The significance of this 
written from Brussels, Oct. 20, 181 5, record of the Brunswickers' vow of 
to his friend John May, before the vengeance vnll be found in note 255, 
composition of the poem. " The page 400. 
Dulie," he says, " was a true Ger- 



THIRD DAY — WELLINGTON'S RETREAT. 1 37 

their reserve. Here the 7th rallied, attacked again, TheCam- 
and drove the lancers back to the town, from which wafSrioo. 
fresh reinforcements for the French poured out, and an june 17. 
obstinate combat took place, but with no decisive 
result. Lord Uxbridge now resolved to terminate the 
affair by ordering a charge of his heavy cavalry, and, 
having placed a British horse-battery in position to 
answer the French guns beyond the stream, he drew up 
the ist regiment of Life Guards behind the 23d hght 
dragoons, and recalled the hussars. As these went 
about, to retire, the lancers pressed upon them and a 
melee ensued, from which the hussars extricated them- 
selves and, retiring through the ranks of the 23d, 
turned from the roadside into a field and re-formed. 
The French column in Genappe, elated at the repulse 
of the Enghsh, sent out loud cries of " En avant ! " and, 
while their guns directed an effective fire upon the 
British position on the hill, a heavy body of cuirassiers 
emerged from the town and rode resolutely up the 
slope to charge the hght dragoons. Then Lord 
Uxbridge ordered the 23d to fall aside to make way 
for the passage of the heavy horsemen in their rear. 
" The Life Guards now made their charge. It was 
truly splendid : its rapid rush down into the enemy's 
mass was as terrific in its appearance as it was destruc- 
tive in its effect ; for, although the French met the 
attack with firmness, they were utterly unable to hold 
their ground a single moment, were overthrown with 
great slaughter, and hterally ridden down in such a 
manner that the ground was instantaneously covered 
with men and horses, scattered in all directions. The 
Life Guards, pursuing their victorious course, dashed 
into Genappe and drove all before them as far as the 
opposite outlet of the town."''^ This vigorous check to 

''^ This account of the charge is Siborne's, Thiers' version of the 



138 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



The Cam- 
paign of 
Waterloo. 

June 17. 



the pursuit had not only ensured tnne for the un- 
disturbed and orderly retreat of the Alhed army : it 
inspired the pursuers with a salutary respect for the 
English horsemen, which caused them to follow with 
great circumspection and to volunteer no further 
serious attack during the remainder of the march. 
For a time, indeed, they endeavoured to get upon 
the flank of the retiring column, but they were met 
here by the dragoon regiments — the Eoyals, Scots 
Greys, and Inniskillings, who retired by alternate 
squadrons, covered by their own skirmishers ; but the 
soft ground, soaked as it was by the continued rain, 
made such manoeuvring difficult, and the troops of both 
armies soon confined their movements to the paved 
road, where hostilities were limited to an interchange 
of artillery fire. 



79 



Thus the rearguard moved onward 



aifair is as follows : — " As we left 
Ge nappe, the English hussars charged 
our cavalry, but were immediately 
driven back by our lancers. Lord 
Uxbridge, in his turn, charged our 
lancers at the head of the mounted 
Guards, and drove them back. But 
the English Guards were compelled 
to yield before our cuirassiers. In a 
few minutes the ground Avas strewn 
with dead and wounded, the greater 
number belonging to our enemies. 
Our cannon especially had covered 
the ground with lacerated human 
bodies, most fearful to behold. Dur- 
ing these attacks, Ool. Sourd, a model 
hero, covered himself with glory. 
Though his arm was lacerated with 
sabre-wounds and half severed from 
his body, he persisted in remaining 
on his horse. He only dismounted 
to have the limb amputated, which 
operation did not diminish either his 
zeal or courage, for he momited his 
horse immediately, and remained at 



the head of his regiment until it 
reached the walls of Paris. — During 
all these charges Napoleon did not 
cease for one moment to direct the 
advance-guard himself." = Exception 
can positively be taken to one part 
of Thiers' account, that which says 
that " the ground was strewn with 
dead and wounded," most of whom 
were English. But two English re- 
giments were engaged on this occa- 
sion, the I st Life Guards and the 7th 
hussars : the English official return 
of killed, wounded, and missing on 
June 17th shows that during the 
entire day the Guards lost but 1 5 
men, the hussars 36 — a total of 51, 
of whom 32 were woimded, and pro- 
bably did not strew the ground to 
any great extent. As to the anec- 
dote of Col. Sourd's heroism, Sir 
Edward Oust does not hesitate to 
pronounce it " a bounce." 

^^ Here again is conflicting tes- 
timony. Siborne describes " the 



TfflRD DAY — WELLINGTON'S RETREAT. 1 39 

to the position which the Anglo-Alhed army had already The Cam- 
taken up, and, except for a single brigade yet on its wa^erL. 
marcli from Ghent, completed its array. The arriving june 17. 
regiments went, as their predecessors had done, each to 
the place appointed for it to hold in the morrow's 
action, as laid down in advance by Wellington upon 
the map of the field in his possession. ^^ The 23d light 
dragoons alone, still acting as rearguard, halted and 
drew up in the hollow of La Haye Sainte, before the 
Allied line, to check the French cavalry should it 
continue its advance along the Brussels road. But 
the French stopped short of this point, and — by the 
order of Napoleon, who wished to ascertain whether 
the English had really taken position here or intended 
to continue their retreat through the Forest of Soignies 
— opened a cannonade upon the centre of the Enghsh 
line where it crossed the Brussels road. Picton, who 
stood upon the rising ground in rear of La Haye Sainte, 
watching the enemy's approach along the highroad, 
called up the batteries nearest by, and directed their 
fire against the head of an infantry column which 
showed itself between La Belle Alhance and La Haye 
Sainte, at a point where the road is cut through a 
liillock. In this position the guns enfiladed the column, 
which was shut in by the steep banks on either flank 

[EBglisli] guns and rockets con- to retreat." (Retreat, as it reads in 

stantly plying tlie enemy's advance." tlie American edition, is doubtless 

Thiers says, " Napoleon — who under the printer's perversion of retort.) 

torrents of rain gave directions for Again the official returns enable us 

all these movements himself — had to judge of the fierce execution which 

ordered up twenty-four pieces of the twenty-four guns wrought among 

cannon, which kept up an unceasing the living masses. The entire loss 

fire on the retreating columns. The of the rearguard led by Lord Ux- 

Engiish, hastening forward, did not bridge amounted, for the whole day 

allow themselves time to fire in re- and including the affair at Genappe, 

turn, btit suffered our balls to do to 60 men and 78 horses, out of a total 

fierce execution among their living strength of about 4,500 men. 

masses, without making any attempt ^° Seepages 15, 16. 



I40 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

and pressed forward by troops advancing in its rear ; 
and for half an hour it continued to melt away under 

17. the fire before it could effect its retreat. By thi^ time 
night was falling, hastened by the rain and a heavy 
mist ; and both armies, throwing out pickets, took up 
their quarters for the night, though the excitement of 
the opponents continued to find vent in a number of 
little cavalry skirmishes that displayed much individual 
gallantry, but led to no result. 

t. The English, by their early arrival, had been enabled 

to avail themselves of whatever shelter could be pro- 
vided in the way of trees, brushwood, or hollows in the 
ground, against the continued discomfort of the storm ; 
and they were permitted to make watch-fires at will, 
for which the forest in their rear furnished abundant 
material, until, as Napoleon phrased it, "the horiz@n 
seemed one vast conflagration ; " but they suffered 
from want of food, while there was no forage for their 
horses.®^ Thus they passed the night, so close to the 
still gathering enemy whose attack they were to meet 
on the morrow that only a distance varying from a 
thousand to fifteen hundred yards separated the 
positions of the two armies. During the evening 
the Duke of Wellington received Bllicher's answer 

^' This is the statement of the sheep and beeves from Brussels ; they 

English -vsniters, who dwell much were well fed and glowing with 

upon it. Thiers afBrms that " their health. We had come too late, the 

commissariat had provided them with convoys of supplies were belated, and 

abundant provisions, though obtained the next day, when the terrible battle 

at a high price." The Erckmann- of Waterloo was fought, the only 

Chatrian conscript says, '' There was ration we received was brandy," 

not quarter enough food in the towns Gleig, describing the destitution of 

through which we passed to supply the English, says of the French that 

such numbers. The English had " the appearance of their bivouacs, 

already taken nearly everything. as it was seen by our people on the 

We had a little rice left, but rice following evening, seemed to imply 

without meat is not very strengthen- that provisions were abundant among 

ing. The English troops received them," 



THIRD NIGHT — AT THE BATTLEFIELD. 14! 

to his dispatch of the morning, assuring him of the TheCam- 
co-operation of the Prussian army next day. He had waTeXo 
witli him already in the field 68,000 men, exclusive of June 17. 
18,000 whom he still kept ten miles off at Hal, while at ^^ *' 
a less distance on his left were 90,000 Prussians, to 
confront the 72,000 remaining with Napoleon after the 
detachment of Grouchy's 33,000. 

Though the French advance-guard, following the 
English rear, had moved into their position before dark, 
the long columns of the main army were still far 
behind, some, indeed, having not yet passed Quatre 
Bras at nightfall. " Our troops," says Thiers, " were in 
a deplorable condition. The paved road no longer 
sufficed for their numbers, and the infantry, being 
obhged to give place to the artillery and the cavalry, 
were forced off the sides of the road and had to walk 
knee-deep in the sHmy Belgian soil. It soon became 
impossible to preserve the ranks ; each advanced as he 
could or would, following at a distance the column of 
artillery and cavalry that occupied the highroad. 
Toward the close of the day their sufferings increased 
with the continuous rain and darkness." Even when 
they reached the end of this dismal march they 
experienced only a variation of their miseries ; for they 
were forbidden to light fires, lest their position and 
numbers should be disclosed to the enemy, and they 
slept, if at all, wet and hungry, upon the mud." ^^ 

®^ This is tlie Erckmann-Oliat- waggons, cannon, and baggage was 

rian description of the night march : so great that we were forced to turn 

" The night was dark, and if it had to the right and cross at Thuy by a 

not been for the ruts, into which we bridge, and from this point we con- 

phmged to our knees at every step, tiuued to march through the fields 

we should have found it difBcult to of grain and hemp, like savages who 

keep the road. . . . About eleven respect nothing. The night was so 

o'clock we reached a large village dark that the mounted dragoons, 

called Genappe, which lies on both who were placed at intervals of two 

sides of the route. The crowd of hundred paces like guide-posts, kept 



142 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Napoleon — after assuring himself that the Enghsh 
purposed giving him battle in the position they had 
taken — spent a great part of the night in reconnoitring 
it. " Having left his staff in the rear, he advanced on 
foot along the height occupied by the English. Accom- 
panied by the Grand Marshal Bertrand, and his first 
page Gudin, he moved about there for a long time, 
seeking to ascertain the peculiarities of the position. 
At every step he sank into the mud, from which he 
extricated himself, sometimes by the help of the Grand 
Marshal's arm, sometimes by Gudin's, and then con- 
tinued his observations with his pocket -glass." Ee- 
mounting his horse, he returned to his headquarters 
at Caillou Farm,^^ and, announcing a decisive battle 



shouting, ' This way, this way ! ' . . . 
On mounting a little elevation we per- 
ceived the English pickets through 
the rain. We were ordered to take 
a position in the grain fields, with 
several regiments which we could 
not see, and not to light our fires. . . . 
Now just imagine us lying in the 
grain under a pouring rain like regu- 
lar gipsies, shivering Avith cold, . . . 
and happy in having a turnip or a ra- 
dish to keep up our strength." = Scott 
pictures this night bivouac in the open- 
ing stanza of his Dunce of Death : — 

" Night and morning were at meeting 
Over Waterloo ; 
Cocks had sung their earliest 
greeting ; 

Faint and low thej^ crew. 
For no paly beam yet shone 
On the heights of Mount Saint 

John; 
Tempest-clouds prolong'd the sway 
Of timeless darkness over day ; 
Whirlwind, thunder-clap, and 

shower 
Mark'd it a predestin'd hour. 



Broad and frequent through the 

night 
Flash'd the sheets of levin-light ; 
Muskets, gleaming lightnings back, 
Show'd the dreary bivouac 

Wliere the soldiers lay, 
Chill and stiff and drench'd with 

rain. 
Wishing davv'n of morn again, 

Though death should come 
with day." 

The same subject is treated in the 
opening of the poem on Waterloo by 
George Ewing Scott which won the 
Chancellor's Prize Medal at Cam- 
bridge in 1820 (see page 444). 

®* Caillou will not be found in 
most of the maps of the battle-field, 
as it lay too far to the south to be 
included in them, it was a rather 
rude Flemish farmhouse, on the 
eastern side of the Charleroi road, 
and opposite to the Maison du Roi, 
which was on the western, and is 
shown by Charras' large map to be 
about a mile and a quarter from La 
Belle Alliance, or about half a mile 



THIED NIGHT — AT THE BATTLEFIELD. 1 43 

for the next day, directed the generals to make the TheCam- 
necessary preparations. It is at this time that Napoleon waferioo. 
is alleged to have sent orders to Gronchy " to keep June 17. 
himself as an impenetrable wall between [the Prussians] 
and the English " — orders which, if indeed they were 
ever sent, were never received by Grouchy.^* He then 
took a few hours' sleep, but was abroad again before 
daylio;ht to assure himself that the English were not Juueis, 

. . . .2 A.ir. 

retreating under cover of the night ; and it was during 
this second reconnoissance that he is said to have 
received the dispatch sent him by Grouchy from 3 a.m. 
Gembloux at 10 o'clock in the evening, announcing his 
intended advance to Wavre at daybreak. To this, as 
the Emperor affirmed afterwards, he sent an order re- 
iterating the instructions in that of 10 o'clock. Thence- 
forth till day Napoleon continued his anxious excursions 
to watch the English and examine the promise of the 
weather and condition of the ground. 



IWote. — The chronological sequence of the narrative, which 
has been preserved as far as possible, must be departed from 
in describing the operations of Grrouchy and the Prussians 
on June 17th and i8th. This anticipation of the proper order 
of events seems preferable to interruptions of the story of 
Waterloo, in order to tell what was passing at the same time 
on the side of Wavre.] 

Grouchy had been left before Ligny to follow 
Bllicher with a force of 33,000 men, the utmost that 
could be detached from the main army. Napoleon, as 
he was about riding off to join Ney in the pursuit of 

south of Eossomme. Caillou was this night, is considered in the ac- 

hurned hy the Prussians when they count of Grouchy's movements on 

learned that Napoleon had slept there. the 17th and i8th, note 88, page 

^^ The question of these dis- 151. Their alleged import is stated 

patches, said to have been sent during above in the words of Thiers. 



I P.M. 



144 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 

Wellington, gave him the following verbal instruc- 
tions : " Pursue the Prussians ; complete their defeat by 
June 17. attacking them as soon as you come up with them, and 
never let them out of your sight. I am going to unite 
the remainder of this portion of the army with Marshal 
Ney's corps, to march against the English and to fight 
them if they should hold their ground between this and 
the Forest of Soignies. You will communicate with 
me by the paved road which leads to Quatre Bras." ^^ 
Grouchy — who was less confident than Napoleon that the 
Prussians had been " put to rout " and were " flying on 
the road to Namur and Liege"— had misgivings about 
this order and the vague but responsible duty it im- 
posed upon him. He represented to Kapoleon that the 
Prussians had had since 10 o'clock the night before in 
which to make their retreat ; that even its direction was 

^^ See text, page 128: for tlie next afterwards attributed to Napo- 

date, I P.M., see note 74, page 129. leon are as given in the Memoires du 

Tlie words of this mucli-disputed Marechal de Grouchy, hj his grand- 

" verhal order " are from Marshal son, the Marquis de Grouchy. = The 

Grouchy's Observations mr la " Rela- force put under the Marshal's com- 

tion de la Campagne fZe 1 8 1 5 ," p^ihliee mand was as follows : — 
2Mr le General Gourgaud. The words 

Vandamme's (3d) corps (less its cavalry) . 
Gerard's (4th) corps ...... 

Teste's (21st) division of Lobau's (6th) corps 
Pajol's cavalry division (half of ist cavalry corps) 
Excelmans' (2d) cavalry corps .... 

Total . . 33,000 men with 96 guns. 

This, with the troops under Ney wounded and protect Charleroi ; but 
and Napoleon (note 74, page 130), it seems probable that it was over- 
made up the entire Grand Army, looked in the orders to move, since 
with the exception of Girard's (7th) it belonged properly to Reille's (2d) 
division, which had been reduced in corps, which was with Ney, and, 
the struggle at St. Amand to about having slipped away from that Mar- 
2,500 men, and had lost all its gene- shal on the 1 6th, remained to fight 
rals, including Girard himself. It at Ligny on the 1 7th, acting with 
was afterwards said to have been Vandamme's corps, but not included 
left in the rear to care for the in it or covered by its orders. 



13,400 


men 


12,200 


>7 


3,000 


» 


1,300 


>> 


3,100 


JJ 



THIRD DAY — GROUCH Y'S PURSUIT, 1 45 

unknown ; that, if it was toward JSTamnr, it would lead TheCam- 
him farther and farther asunder from the main army, wlfterbo. 
and against a greatly outnumbering force ; that it june 17. 
would be some time before the soldiers given him 
could be made ready to march ; and he asked that he 
might follow the Emperor. But the Emperor refused, 
repeated his order, and said, " Marshal, proceed toward 
Namur, for, according to all probabiUties, it is on the 
Meuse that the Prussians are retiring. It is then in this 
direction that you will find them and that you ought 
to march." Grouchy, thus peremptorily instructed, 
prepared to set out as expeditiously as possible ; but 
the men, especially of Vandamme's corps, were widely 
scattered over the plain : some had gone out foraging ; 
others had taken their muskets apart, in order to clean 
•them after their hard day's use ; so that, as Thiers 
complains, " it was nearly 3 or 4 o'clock in the after- 
noon when this infantry, composed of Vandamme's 
and Gerard's corps, set out." Napoleon, meanwhile, 2 p.m. 
had learned from a cavalry reconnoitring party that 
traces of the Prussians had been found on the road 
through Tilly to Wavre, and he sent back from Marbais 
a written order to Grouchy, saying, " March to Gembloux. 
You will explore in the direction of Namur and Maes- 
tri cht, and you will pursue the enemy." Grouchy was 
also instructed to ascertain whether the enemy was 
" separating from the English, or bent on uniting with 
them to save Brussels, and try the fate of another battle." 
The Marshal, by the time he received this order, had 
reconnoitred the Namur road sufficiently to satisfy 
himself that the mass of the Prussians had not taken 
that direction, and he now set his infantry in march for 3 p.m. 
Gembloux, riding on himself to overtake Excelmans' 
cavalry, which had already passed beyond that point, 
and which — in accordance with the order to " explore 

h 



146 



QCJATRE BRAS, LIGNY, ANt) WATERLOO. 



in the direction of . . . Maestriclit " — lie now pushed 
forward to Perwez and Sart-les-Walhain. During these 
movements the storm raged as violently on this side 
of the field as toAvard Waterloo ; but there was this 
important difference, that while the march of the main 
army was along a paved highroad, the road to Gem- 
bloux was but a narrow lane, which soon became next 
to impassable, particularly for the artillery ; so that it 
was late in a dark wet night when the tail of the 
column reached its bivouac at Gembloux.^^ Thus, on 



^^ The statement of Gerard — 
whom Thiers quotes whenever it 
bears against Grouchy — shows suffi- 
ciently that there was no needless 
delay in the march. He says as to 
his own corps that "he kept close to 
Vandamme, for whom he had to 
wait, and the troops arrived as soon 
as was humanly possible in the tor- 
rents of rain and over frightful 
roads." Thiers, however, ignores 
this, and constructs three deliberate 
falsifications to show that Grouchy 
was dilatory — (i) He ante-dates the 
hour at which the order for his 
march was given from i p.m. to 
1 1 A.M., and accounts for his not 
moving the infantry till 3 or 4 p.m. 
by saying that it was to give them 
rest. " It would have been better," 
he continues, " to have left at noon. 
. , . They would have had the ad- 
vantage of arriving at Gembloux be- 
fore the commencement of the storm 
. . . and, having rested three or 
four hours, could have advanced on 
Wavre." (2) In proof that Grouchj^ 
" had no discernment in the direc- 
tion of general operations, nor any 
of the sagacity essential to an officer 
commanding an advance-guard, sent 
in search of an enemy," Thiers 
affirms that, " on parting from Na- 



poleon at Sombreffe, he thoughtlessly 
hastened to Namiu'," and, "whilst 
galloping along in this direction, 
without a destination, he learned 
that " the Prussians were near Gem- 
bloux. In order to produce this ab- 
surd picture, Thiers has suppressed 
Napoleon's explicit, though verbal, 
order to "proceed toward Namur," 
as well as the written order in which 
he previously told Ney that the 
Prussians were " in rout " on " the 
roads to Namur and Lit^ge." (3) 
Adopting, with a slight mitigation, 
the falsehood of the St. Helena 
Memoires, he says, " It was certainly 
very annoying that, whilst the Prus- 
sians ought to have been hotly pur- 
sued, our troops had advanced but 
two and a half leagues during the 
day;" and again, " Napoleon thought 
meanly of the manner of proceed- 
ing adopted by the Marshal, who, 
pursuing the enemy during an entire 
day, had only advanced two leagues 
and a half." Napoleon's story made 
the distance only " two leagues : " 
Thiers relents to the extent of a 
half-league more ; but the actual 
distance from St. Amand, where 
Yaudamme's corps lay, to Gembloux, 
where they bivouacked, was more 
than eight miles, and the distance to 



THIRD NIGHT — GROUCH Y'S PURSUIT. 1 47 

the eve of the battle which was to determine the fate of The Cam- 
the Empire and of Europe, while the Emperor and the wlfterioo. 
Duke of Welhngton were facing one another at Waterloo, june 17 
Bllicher had gathered his entire army at Wavre, and '^^* 
had made all things ready to march next morning to 
the support of his ally, only eight miles distant. ^^ 
Grouchy, on the other hand, lay with the mass of his 
infantry advanced only as far as Gembloux ; while 
those troops which had been reconnoitring the Namur 
road — Pajol's hght-horse and Teste's division of infantry 
— were as far back as Mazy, in the vicinity of yester- 
day's battle-field ; and his foremost cavalry, in obedience 
to the order to " explore in the direction of Namur and 
Maestricht," had diverged far to the east of the line 
taken by the Prussians — so that no part of his force was 
within less than fourteen miles of Napoleon and the 
Grand Army, with swollen rivers and impassable swamps 
intervening. Grouchy's uncertainty at this time as to 
the course the Prussians really had taken, his belief 
that their main strength had gone eastward, and his 
entire ignorance that the two corps of Zieten and Pirch 
had retired by way of Tilly and Gentinnes to Wavre, 
are shown in the dispatch which he addressed earjy in 10 p.m. 
the night to the Emperor. ^^ Eeports came in during 

Perwez, where the cavalry advance of the much-controverted dispatches 

rested, was seven miles greater ; and which passed, or have been said to 

the march of the ^' entire day," as have passed, between Napoleon and 

Thiers describes it, commenced at Grouchy. The first of these — dic- 

3 P.ar., and was conducted through a tated by Napoleon to Bertrand as a 

narrow flooded lane, dming a tern- supplement to the verbal instructions 

pest. Thiers, of course, omits to re- — is said to have been purposely 

mark that the loss of the whole suppressed by Grouchy during the 

night and of the day up to i p.m. controversy that ensued, and to have 

was due, not to Grouchy, but to been first printed, by accident, in a 

Napoleon. biography of him by M. E. Pascallet, 

*' See text, pages 119,120. in 1842; and, after having escaped 

^* It will be most convenient to Siborne, Von Loben Sels, and other 

group here for reference abstracts writers, it was used by Oharras and 

L 2 



148 QIJATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

The Cam- tliG next foup hoiii's, liowever, which sufficiently con - 
Waterloo, vinccd him that the enemy had gone toward the north, 

afterwards by Ohesney. The French are extant are given in full in 
originals of the three others which Sihorne, chapters viii. and x. 

Sent Dispatch Eeceived 

June 17, From Napoleon, at Ma7-bais {through Be^-trand), to 
2 (?)p.M. Orouchy. — " March to Gembloux, with Pajol's caval- 

ry. .. . You will explore in the direction of Namur 
and Maestricht; and you will pursue the enemy ; 
explore his march and instruct me as to his move- 
ments, so that I can find out what he is intending to 
do. I am carrying my headquarters to Quatre Bras, 
where the English still were this morning. Our com- 
munication will then he direct, by the paved road of 
Namur. If the enemy has evacuated Namur, write 
to the general commanding the second military divi- 
sion at Charlemont to cause Namur to be occupied by 
some battalions of the National Guard, and some bat- 
teries of cannon, which he will organise at Charle- 
mont. He will give the command to some general 
officer. — It is important to find out whatBliicher and 
Wellington are intending to do, and if they propose 
to reunite their armies to cover Brussels and Liege in 
trying the fate of a battle. In all cases, keep con- 
stantly your two corps of infantry united in a league 
of ground, having several avenues of retreat, and post 
detachments of cavalry intermediate between us, in 
order to communicate with headquarters. — Dictated 
by the Emperor in the absence of the Chief of Staff. June 17, 
[Signed] The Grand Marshal, Bekteand." 3 p.m. (?) 

10 P.M. From Orouchy, at Oembloux, to Napoleon. — " I occupy 
Gembloux, and my cavalry is at Sauvenieres. The 
enemy, about 30,000 strong [he means here Thiel- 
mann's corps], continues its retreat. ... It appears 
from all the reports that arrive at Sauvenieres that 
the Prussians are divided into two columns, one 
taking the route to Wavre, and passing by Sart-les- 
Walhaiu ; the other seems directed upon Perwez. 
It may, perhaps, be inferred that one part is going 
to join Wellington, and that the centre, which is 
Bliicher's army, is retiring on Liege : another column, 
with artillery, having retreated by Namur, Gen. 
Excelmans is ordered to push to-night 6 squadrons 
on Sart-les-Walhain, and 3 squadrons on Perwez. 
According as they report, if the mass of the Prussians 



THIRD NIGHT— GROUCHY'S PURSUIT. 



149 



and he sent a second despatch to Napoleon, declaring The cam- 
his purpose to march to Sart-les-Walhain, on the way wL^eXo. 



Sent Dispatch Eeceived 

retire on Wavre, I will follow in that direction, to 
prevent their reaching Brussels, and separate them 
from Wellington. If, on the contrary, information 
shows that the principal Prussian force has marched 
on Perwez, I will direct the pursuit to that town. . . June 18, 
Bliicher . . , has not passed through Gembloux." before 
[This means BltLcher himseli", not the Prussian army.] 10 a.m. 

lOP.M. Alleged Order from Napoleon, at the Caillou Farm, to 
(?) Grouchy. — That it ever was written rests solely upon 

Napoleon's statement at St. Helena. Thiers, adopt- 
ing this, gives as its import : — " Grouchy was ordered 
to follow the Prussians in order to complete their de- 
feat, to watch their proceedings, and, whatever they 
might do, to keep himself as an impenetrable wall 
between them and the English. . . . * If the Prus- 
sians,' he [Napoleon] said in his orders to Grouchy, 
* have turned to the Rhine, you need not trouble 
yourself about them, but only leave 1,000 horse to 
follow them and make sure that they do not fall back - 
upon us. If they have taken the road to Brussels 
by Wavre, it will be sufficient to send 1,000 horse 
after them, and then, as in the former case, do you 
return to us, and assist in beating the English. But 
if the Prussians have stopped in advance of the Forest 
of Soignies, at Wavre or elsewhere, do you take up 
your position between them and us, engage them, 
keep them in check, and send a detachment of 7,000 
men to attack the right \_sic\ wing of the English in 
the rear.' " Never. 

June 18, From Grouchy, at Gembloux, to Napoleon. — The letter 
2 A.M. is lost, but Napoleon's reply (his i p.m. order of this ■ 

day) shows that it announced Grouchy's intention to 
move in the morning to Sart-les-Walhain, on the Before 
way to Oorbaix or Wavi'e. i p.m. 

3 A.M. (?) Alleged Ordei- from Napoleon, at the Caillou Farm, 
to Grouchy. — This order is apocryphal on the same 
grounds as that of 10 p.m. Thiers aifirms it to have 
been in answer to Grouchy's 10 p.m. letter, and to 
have consisted of a repetition of the Emperor's 10 p.m. 
order. Never. 

10 A.M. From Napoleon, in advance of the Caillou Farm {through 
Soult), to Grouchy, — in ansiver to Grouchy's 10 P.M. 



June 18 

2 A.M. 



150 QUATRE BRAS, LTGNY, AND WATERLOO, 

The Cam- to Corbalx or Wavre ; and he issued his orders for the 
vvalerioo. advaiice, directing Vandamme, whose corps lay in front 

June 18. 

Sent Dispatch Received 

report — " The Emperor has received your last report, 

dated at GemMoiix. You tell his Majesty of only two 

Prussian columns as having passed through Sauve- 

nieres and Sart-les-Walhaiu, although reports speak 

of a third very strong column as passing by Gery 

and Gentinnes toward Wavre. . . . His Majesty is 

on the point of attacking the English army, which 

has taken position at Waterloo, near the Forest of 

Soignies : accordingly, his Majesty desires that you 

direct your movements upon Wavre, so that you may 

approach us, connect yourself with our operations, 

and secure our communications, pushing before you 

the corps of the Prussian army which have taken 

this direction, and which may have stopped at Wavre, 

where you should arrive as soon as possible. You 

will follow the enemy's columns which have gone to 

your right with light troops. . . . Do not neglect to 

connect {lier) your communications with us," 4 p.m. 

I P.M. From Napoleon, on the Battle-Jield of Waterloo (through 
Soult), to Grouchy. — " You have written this morn- 
ing at 2 o'clock to the Emperor that you would 
march on Sart-les-Walhaiu ; whence {done) your plan 
was to move on Oorbaix or Wavre : this movement 
is in conformity with the arrangements which have 
been communicated to you : still the Emperor directs 
me to say that you should constantly manoeuvre in 
our direction : it is for you to see where we are, in 
order to guide yourself accordingly, and to connect our 
communications as well as to be always prepared to 
fall upon any of the enemy's troops that may seek to 
annoy our right, and crush them. At this moment 
the battle is engaged on the line of Waterloo. The 
centre of the English army is at Mont St. Jean ; so 
manoeuvre to join our right. =P.S. — A letter just 
intercepted shows that Gen. Biilow is about to at- 
tack our flank. We think we see this corps on the 
heights of St. Lambert ; so lose not a moment to ap- 
proach and join us, and crush Biilow, whom you 
will take in flagrante delicto^ 7 p.m. 

June 19, From Napoleon, between Quatre Bras and Charier oi, to 
I A.M. Grouchy. — A message, announcing the loss of the June 19, 

battle of Waterloo. 1 1 a.m. 



FOUETH DAY — PRUSSIAN CROSS-MARCH. 151 

of Gembloux, to move on Sart-les-Walliain at 6 o'clock The cam- 
in the morning, while Gerard, who was in rear of the Waterloo. 

town, was to follow at 7. JuneiS. 

The Prussians had hitherto maintained unbroken 
communication with the Enghsh, and they were entirely 
unmolested by the French up to the time which Bllicher, 
by orders sent out during the night, had designated for 
commencing the cross-march by which he had under- 
taken to bring his strength to the assistance of Welhng- 
ton, " The country between Wavre and the field of 
Waterloo," which the Prussian army was now to cross, 
is described by Chesney, from personal observation, as 
" broken into rounded hills, with patches of wood upon 
their slopes, and traversed by lanes deep and miry in 
the hollows. The chief cross-road is that which passes 
over the highest of the hills (on which stands the con- 
spicuous church of St. Lambert), falls steeply down into 

An explanation is necessary as to tlie teeth of the exposure of their falsity 

two orders declared to have been by Charras. As Quinet has written 

sent, during the night of June 1 7- later than either, however, we may 

18, by Napoleon to Grouchy. These quote what he says [in his work on 

were first heard of in the mendacious the same subject, published in 1 862], 

writings prepared at St. Helena, in to which we beheve it would be 

which Napoleon endeavoured to difficult to add weight by a word of 

shift from himself to his lieutenants our own. ' The two officers sent by 

the faults of this campaign — writings Napoleon were never seen by Grou- 

which have been credited by many chy. No one has ever been able to 

honest-minded students, and have give their names. The orders they 

grossly perverted the history of the are asserted to have carried are not 

period. It is noteworthy that Thiers to be fotmd registered in the staff 

— ^who contents himself with mis- records. What is still more to the 

leading paraphrases of authentic purpose, in the dispatches which fol- 

orders — gives what professes to be lowed Napoleon made no mention 

the literal text of this unproducible whatever of these orders of the 

document. The case of these night night. He does not insist upon their 

orders is briefly summed by up Ohes- execution. He does not even refer 

ney. " If these tales have passed with to them, contrary to invariable cus- 

critics of other nations," he says, tom.' In brief," concludes Chesney, 

"we can hardly blame Thiers for ad- "they are manifest inventions," 
mitting them into his history, in the 



152 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 

the valley of the Lasne, at a village of the same name, and, 
ascending again to Planchenoit, leads on to the Brussels 
and Charleroi road near to the farm of Cailloii, where 
Napoleon's headquarters were established on the night 
of the 17th. A similar road, farther to the north, 
conducts more directly by Froidmont and Ohain on to 
the crest which formed the front of the Enghsh 
position." Blucher purposed using both of these roads 
— the leading corps. Billow's (the 4th), taking the 
southern road by St. Lambert and Lasne, upon which 
Pirch, with the second corps, was to follow ; Zieten's 
(ist) corps was to move on the road to Ohain ; and, 
Thielmann's (3d) corps was to act as rearguard, 
covering the movement, and, if not embarrassed by 
the enemy, was to follow Billow and Pirch toward 
Planchenoit. The quarter in which the Prussians 
could best co-operate with their alhes must be deter- 
mined by the direction of the French attack ; and, 
while Wellington made an early morning reconnoissance 
of the field of Waterloo, Gen. Muffling prepared and 
sent to Blucher a scheme for his action in the three 
cases likely to arise, which is thus summarised by 
Chesney : — 

" ( I ) Should the enemy attack Wellington's right, the 
Prussians were to march upon Ohain, a point beyond his left, 
and on the shortest road to it from Wavre ; thus arriving with- 
out interruption, and supporting him with a reserve equal to 
the whole force attacking, and able to act freely on the open 
ground before Waterloo, as required. 

" (2) Should he attack Wellington'' s centre or left, one 
Prussian corps was to march by St. Lambert and Lasnes, and 
take the French on the right flank, whilst another by Ohain 
supported the English. 

" (3) Should the enemy (instead of pressing the English) 
march on St. Lambert, the key-point of the country between 
Wavre and Waterloo, thus threatening to separate the Allies, 



FOURTH DAY — PRUSSIAN CROSS-MARCH. 1 53 

then the Prussians would stand there to receive him in front, The Cam- 
whilst Wellington, advancing direct from Waterloo, would take yvato-ioo 
him in flank and rear." ^ — — 

June 18. 

Napoleon's first movement in the battle seemed to 
indicate that the second of these cases was occurring, 
and word to that effect was at once sent to Bllicher, 11.30 a.m. 
whose troops by this time were on their march. The 
Prussian cavalry outposts had been early astir, and 3-30 a.m. 
before sunrise were as far west as Maransart, exploring 
the defiles of the Lasnes, from that point down the 
lower course of the stream ; while scouring parties 
examined the country in the angle between the Dyle 
and the Charleroi-Brussels road, almost up to the right 
rear of the Grand Army ; so that they were interposed 
between Grouchy and Napoleon, and the French 
messengers could only communicate between the two 
by going back as far as the Namur highway. A strong 
Prussian detachment of all arms from Billow's corps, 
under the command of Col. von Ledebur, held also the 
important point of Mont St. Guibert on Grouchy's left 
flank, covering the route by which he would naturally 
move to join Napoleon, if such a movement should 
be contemplated. Thus no junction between the two 
French armies could be effected without opposition.^^ 

^^ Hooper concisely summarises allied armies. . . . On the night of 
the position of affairs in this respect the 1 7th Grouchy stood at Gem- 
as follows : — " The Prussians . . . bloux, nearly as ignorant of the true 
had sent patrols through the whole state of affairs as he was when he 
country between the Dyle and the quitted Ligny. He had patrolled on 
Lasne. The Prussian dragoons were his right ; he had not patrolled on his 
in every lane and village ; . . . they left. This was a fatal negligence, 
reconnoitred the course of the Lasne Napoleon, it is true, had not directed 
from Couture to Genval, took note of him, in so many words, to keep a 
every defile, road, stream, and wood, good look-out on his left, and 
and thereby acquired the invaluable Grouchy did not supply the grave 
information that neither Napoleon omission. . . . The division of the 
nor Grouchy had sent a single patrol French army into two parts, the 
into the country between the two separation of those parts by a wide 



154 QUATEE BE AS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

The Cam- The Prussiaii corps, however, had been badly disposed 

watoioo. overnight, in view of the order of march tliey were now 

June i8. to follow. Zictcn alonc was west of the Dyle, while 

Billow, whose corps was to head the advance, had 

acted as rearguard, and consequently was the most 

remote from the starting-point. ^° He was, in the first 

7 A.M. place, somewhat late in setting out to march through 

Wavre ; and, just after his advance-guard had cleared 

the town, a fire broke out in the street leading to the 

bridge, and spread with great rapidity. The danger 

was extreme, because of the number of ammunition 

waggons in the place, and all passage of troops was 

9 A.M. stopped for some two hours. From this cause, and the 

horrible condition of the roads, though Billow's leading 

12 M. brigade reached St. Lambert before noon, the whole of 

3 P.M. his column did not come up thus far until the battle of 

Waterloo was far advanced. Zieten's corps, again, had 

been posted to the south of the bridge over the Dyle, 

and, as it was to take the northern road to Ohain, 

its march crossed that of Billow's column, which 

occasioned such delay that it was not fairly under 

6 p.m. way before noon, and only reached Ohain when the 

condition of the Allies in that part of the field had 

become extremely critical. Pirch, starting to pass 

through Wavre at about tlie same time Zieten moved 

from the other side of the river, was obstructed by the 

crowds and confusion in the streets of the town, until 

his rearo;uard became entangled in that action with the 

French which detained Thielmann's corps for the 

defence of Wavre, and he was forced to move on with 

only half of his command. With these he followed 

distance, the neglect of botli Napo- fact which neither Napoleon nor 

lean and Grouchy to keep up a con- Grouchy knew — completed their 

nection with each other by strong share in the preparation for the 

patrols, while their enemies were crushing defeat that was to come." 
alert and in close communication — a ®° See test, page 119. 



FOURTH DAY — PRUSSIAN CROSS-MARCH. I 55 

Bulow, joining him in the action in time to decide TheCam- 
the taking of Planchenoit, just as the Enghsh made the wL^iw. 
final advance that swept the French routed from the June is. 
field. Blticher himself had left Wavre after seeing 7-30P-»i- 
the troops in motion, and proceeded by way of Li- 
male to St. Lambert, being overtaken on his way by ha.m. 
intelligence that Grouchy was moving upon Wavre. 
Hereupon he sent instructions to Thielmann to defend 
the position in case the enemy was in force — for he 
knew nothing of his strength, — but, in the event of the 
French crossing the Dyle at another point, or not being 
formidable in numbers, Thielmann was then to leave 
but a few battalions in Wavre, and bring the remainder 
of his corps to act as a reserve to the main army. 
Blticher then joined Billow, the presence of whose 
advance-guard on the heights of St. Lambert had 
already been descried by the French, and received ^^m. 
Mufiling's despatch designating the line of advance he 
was desired to take—information of which Billow had 
been so much in need that he had sent forward a 
messenger to Wellington's headquarters to make the 
inquiry, but the messenger had been taken by the 
French. ^^ It was now important to hasten the difficult 

^^ Napoleon was about ordering the atmosphere was not very clear, 

an important attack by Ney, and different opinions were entertained : 

was taking a preliminary view of the some asserting that what had been 

field, when, as Siborne tells it, " he taken for troops were trees ; others, 

perceived in the direction of St. that they were columns in position ; 

Lambert an indistinct mass, having whilst several agreed with Soult that 

the appearance of a body of troops ; they were troops on the march.'" 

and, pointing out the object to Soult, To end the suspense, the Emperor 

who was near him at the time, asked ordered a strong reconnoitring party 

his opinion, whereupon the Marshal to his right, which presently captured 

observed that he really conceived it and sent in the messenger, a Prus- 

to be a column on the march, and that sian non-commissioned officer of hus- 

there was great reason to believe it sars, whom Billow had sent with a 

was a detachment from Grouchy. note to Wellington announcing that 

All the stafi" directed their telescopes he was at hand, and asking instruc- 

upon the point indicated ; and, as tions. Napoleon thus had the alarm- 



156 QUATKE BKAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

The Cam- passage of the Lasne and gain a foothold on the farther 
Waterloo slde befoie the French could oppose the movement, and 
June 18. Bliicher became especially impatient to accomplish this 
when one of the cavalry exploring parties brought in 
word that the Wood of Paris, lying beyond the stream, 
was unoccupied by the French, and that their right 
flank, beyond it, was wholly uncovered. Blilow, 
accordingly, and his two infantry divisions and the 
cavalry, which were all that had yet come up, set them- 
selves to cross the valley — a task which to any other 
general than Blucher would have been an impossibility. 
" The rain . . . had transformed the valley of the 
Lasne into a perfect swamp. The miry and watery 
state of the roads between Wavre and St. Lambert had 
caused so many stoppages and breaks in the columns 
that they were frequently lengthened out for miles. 
Blucher showed himself on every point of the line 
of march, encouraging his exhausted soldiers. ... As 

ing certainty that 30,000 Prussians terloo, although he associates it with 

were upon his flank, and he sent off a later period of the battle, as was 

10,000 troops to the menaced point, quite in accordance with the belief 

and added to his i o'clock order to then prevalent in England, that the 

Grouchy (see note 88, page 150), the Prussians only came up when the 

postscript calling upon the Marshal conflict was already decided. Ad- 

to " crush Biilow, whom you will dressing Napoleon, Scott says — 

take in the act." The order only -r^ , , . 

■ujn ij.«„T,i. Dost thou turn thme eye 

reached Grouchy at 7 p.m., when he . 1 , p 

was fully engaged with Thielmann, ^^^/^ ^7"'^; ^l^^^^^'^^^^ g^^f^ ^f^^' 

and when the battle of Waterloo And fresher thunders wake the war, 
was past redemption. Thiers' notion ^"^^ o^^^^ standards fly ?- 

of the possibilities of this order is ^hink not that, m yon columns file 

characteristic :-" An officer at a ^hy conquering troops from distant 
gallop could reach Grouchy in less ^ ^ 

than two hours, and bring him within ^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^ unknown? 

reach of the two armies in less than O^' ^^^^^^^ ^0* ^° thy memory still 

three. Grouchy could thus arrive (Heard frequent m thine hour of ill) 

before 6, far too early an hour to ^'^^\ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^*^ ^^^ vengeance ^ 
have the battle decided." = It is no *^^^^^ 

doubt this apparition of Biilow that I'l Prussia's trumpet tone ? ' 

Scott describes in his Field of Wa- 



FOURTH DAY — GROUCHY'S PUESUIT. 157 

the ground yielded to their pressure, both cavalry and The Cam- 
infantry became dispirited ; and when the artillery waterfoo. 
were fairly checked by the guns sinking axle- deep, june is. 
and the men, already worn down by fatigue, were re- 
quired to work them out, their murmurs broke forth in 
exclamations of — 'We cannot get on.' ' But we must get 
on ! ' was old Bllicher's reply ; ' I have given my word 
to Wellington, and you will surely not make me break 
it. Only exert yourselves a few hours longer, children, 
and certain victory is ours.' " ^^ The veteran's energy 
proved adequate, and, after long exertions, the advance- 
guard surmounted the western slope of the valley and 
occupied the Wood of Paris, on either side of the road 4 p.m. 
from Lasne to Planchenoit. Bllicher desired to have 
troops enough in hand to render his attack effective ; 
but the delays in the rear, the sight of the enemy's 
moving troops, the roar of the cannon, the- urgent ap- 
peals that came from Wellington, exhausted his patience ; 
and he ordered the deployment of the scanty force 4-3° p-^. 
with him — two infantry divisions and the cavalry of 
Billow's corps. =From their entrance upon the field, the 
doings of this part of the Prussian army become part of 
the battle of Waterloo. 

Grouchy during the night had issued orders for the 
timely movement of his troops in the morning. Pajol, 
with Soult's cavalry and Teste's infantry divisions, was 
directed to march at 5 o'clock from Mazy to Grand Lees ; 
Vandamme, who was in advance of Gembloux, was to 
proceed at 6 to Sart-les-Walhain ; Gerard, in the rear 
of the town, was to follow him at 7. Pajol set off at the 
appointed time ; Excelmans' corps of heavy cavalry — sa.m. 
8 regiments of dragoons — was somewhat late in moving s a.m. 
toward Billow's rearguard ; and Vandamme and Gerard 
were still more tardy in leaving their quarters, and then 9 a,m. 

92 Siborne. 



158 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



The Cam- iiiarched slowly along a single bad country road, Gerard's 
Waterloo, corps being frequently compelled to halt whenever de- 
June i8. lays occurrcd to Vandamme's column in front. ^^ 



®^ In the matter of this tardy 
start on the morniDg of June i8 
Thiers multiplies falsifications of 
plain facts with incredible reckless- 
ness. His main purpose in the whole 
of this portion of his History is to 
prove that Grouchy's delays, not 
Napoleon's, lost Waterloo : in his 
own words, " It must, we repeat, be 
admitted that Marshal Grouchy was 
the real cause of our defeat ; " and 
he goes on to ask, " If the time was 
insufficient [for Grouchy to come up 
at Waterloo], whose fault was it but 
Grouchy's, who had lost five or six 
hours on the afternoon of the 17th, 
and four on the morning of the 
i8th?" Now the dates already 
cited in the narrative show that it 
was due to Napoleon, not Grouchy, 
that the French cavalry was with- 
held from pursuing the Prussians 
after their defeat at Ligny on the 
nightof June 16 ; that it wasNapoleon 
who trifled away the whole morn- 
ing — that is, all the fair weather — 
of the 17th; that it was Napoleon 
who positively assumed that Bliicher 
was flying toward Namur, Liege, 
and Maestricht : and who insisted 
upon the orders that carried Grouchy 
to the eastward of the proper line of 
pursuit. Coming to the morning of 
the 1 8th, Thiers consolidates into a 
few lines three distinct falsehoods : — 
'' At 2 in the morning he [Grouchy] 
wrote to announce his definite inten- 
tion of going to Wavre at daybreak 
\_que, definitivemient, il marcherait sur 
Wavre ties la jwinte du jour']. . . . 
But, imfortunately, he did not issue 
his orders until between 6 and 7 in 
the morning, and, not having made 



previous arrangements for the dis- 
tribution of provisions, the troops did 
not move till 8, 9, and 10 " Paren- 
thetically it may be observed (i) that 
the troops of Napoleon's, of Welling- 
ton's, and of Bliicher's armies were 
all short of provisions on this day, 
and that Grouchy's commissariat 
could not well be better ofi" than 
theirs ; (2) that the statement that 
the troops were as late as 10 o'clock 
in the morning rests on this foot- 
note — some scores of pages back of 
the passage cited, and appended to 
one of the dozen or more allusions 
which Thiers, 7}iore suo, makes to the 
topic — " Some of the troops did not 
leave Gembloux until 10. These de- 
tails," he adds, " are attested by 
letters in my possession, written by 
inhabitants of the town." As if 
" some of th6 troops" of every long 
column were not necessarily hours 
later than those which head the ad- 
vance ; and as if the tail of Gerard's 
corps — which numbered 12,200 men, 
and lay in rear of the town — could 
have " left Gembloux " until hours 
after the obstructing corps of Van- 
damme had done so. Thiers' notions 
of military aff"airs are notoriously ac- 
counted worthless by those competent 
to pass judgment upon them: that his 
statements of what purports to be 
fact are much worse is illustrated by 
these three explicit falsehoods con- 
tained in the brief citation above : — 
(i and 2) That Grouchy's 2 a.m. letter 
announced " his definite intention of 
going to Wavre at daybreak." That 
letter (see note 88, page 149) was 
lost ; has never been seen since that 
day, so that neither Thiers nor any- 



FOURTH DAY — GROUCHY'S PURSUIT. 



159 



ExcelmaDs was tlie first to come upon the enemy, a The cam 



part of Billow's rearguard, which he overtook near 
Neuf-Sart, on its march toward Wavre to join its corps, 
ahready moving on the cross-march to St. Lambert ; and 
he sent word to Grouchy that the Prussians were con- 
tinuing their retreat through Wavre for the purpose of 
drawing nearer to Welhngton. Grouchy, on reaching 



paign of 
Waterloo. 



body else could tell what it contained 
except fi'om Napoleon's answer (his 
I P.M. letter), which begins, ' You 
bave written . . . that you would 
march on Sart-les-Walhains," and 
goes on to say that Grouchy's " plan 
to move on Oorbaix or Wavre . . . 
is in conformity with the Emperor's 
views." There is nothing about (i) 
moving " at daybreak," and (2) the 
move was to be to Sart-les-Walhains, 
leaving the advance to Wavre for 
after consideration. But though the 
letter to Napoleon is lost, Grouchy's 
orders to Vandamme, issued at the 
same time, are in existence and are 
quoted by Oharras, and instructed 
Vandamme to move at 6 a.m. to Sart- 
les-Walhain, making no reference to 
Wavre, unless it be contained in these 
words : " I think we shall go farther 
than this village," meaning Sart-les- 
Walhains. (3) Grouchy issued his 
orders in the night, directing tbe 
movement at 6 and 7 a.m. — a very 
different thing from Thiers' assertion 
that " he did not issue his orders until 
between 6 and 7." Leaving Thiers' 
mendacities, it is well to hear the 
opinion of acknowledged military 
authorities upon the march declared 
to be so slow. Chesney "WTites of 
this—" He [Grouchy] moved at least 
as early as the Prussians ; and the 
facts bring plainly into view that 
element in war so often ignored by 
the historian, the condition and will 



June 18. 
10.30 A.M. 



of the soldier. Troops that have had 
a long day's march in mire and rain, 
and a rest imperfect for lack of shelter, 
cannot always be got to take their 
rough morning's meal and start on 
a new movement as early as the ge- 
neral desires. Clausewitz, who amid 
deep theorj^ reverts constantlj^ to the 
practical conditions and difficulties 
of the warfare he had witnessed, sheds 
a plainer light here than any other 
critic. He points out that from the 
field of Ligny, by Gembloux, to 
Wavre, is a march of more than 
twenty miles, and that the distance 
was accomplished by Grouchy in just 
24 hours, under very unfavourable 
conditions of roads and weather. In 
their best days he finds Napoleon's 
troops, under such circumstances, 
often did not make over ten miles. 
Such conditions, he adds, reduce 
marching to a half, or even a third, 
of what is laid down in the closet as 
possible. And hence he concludes 
that Grouchy is not to be repre- 
hended for slowness of movement, 
albeit he might possibly have acce- 
lerated his march slightly had he not 
kept the bulk of his troops in one 
column." It would be idle to say 
anything upon Clausewitz's standing 
as a strategical authority ; but with 
reference to his Imowledge of this 
particular march it must be remem- 
bered that at this time be was acting 
as Thielmann's chief of staff. 



l6o QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Sart-les-Walliains, liad procured breakfast for himself 
and staff at the house of the village notary, and was 
joined there by Gerard, who had ridden on in advance 
of his corps. They were still at table when some of the 
officers who were walking in the garden heard from the 
westward the distant rolling of a heavy cannonade. 
Grouchy, Vandamme, Gerard, and others at once 
gathered in the garden, and all agreed that Napoleon 
had come upon the English army, and was now in action ; 
and they learned from their host that the firing was 
evidently near the Soignies forest, apparently toward 
Mont St. Jean or Planchenoit.^* Grouchy, on receiving 
Excelmans' tidings, had ordered the continuance of the 
advance to Wavre ; and Vandamme's column, following 
Excelmans' horse, were by this time as far in that direc- 
tion as Nil St. Vincent. A discussion now arose what 
course should be pursued — whether to turn the army 
to its left on reaching Corbaix, and, crossing the Dyle 

''■* Cliarras relates tliat " Gerard, lifted, it became more distinct; then, 

on coming up to Notary Holbaert's suddenly, it assumed such' intensity 

house at about 11,30 a.m., entered, that, so to say, the earth trembled, 

and was conversing with Grouchy, There could be no doubt that it was 

at breakfast, when Col. Simon Lor- the resounding of a violent cannon- 

riere, chief of staff of the 4th corps, ade. The Notary Holbaert and the 

entered, and announced that he had guides, on being consulted, indicated 

heard firing. At this news the Mont St. Jean as the point whence 

Marshal and Gerard went out and it sounded. It was noon, or a Httle 

placed themselves in the middle of later." The St. Helena Memoires 

the garden, in an arbour built upon represent Excelmans as one of the 

a little mound. Gens. Balthus and listeners, and as saying, " We must 

V^alaz^, the former commanding the march toward the fire. ... I am an 

engineers, the latter the artillei'y of old soldier of the army of Italy," 

Gerard's corps, were there, listening etc. etc. '' But at this moment," 

in silence to the noise which had at- says Oharras, " Excelmans was not 

tracted the attention of Simon Lor- at Sart-les-Walhains ; and he did 

riere. A fine rain was falling ; this not see Grouchy on the day of June 

sound was feeble ; to catch it better, 18. He has himself so stated in a 

several officers had bent their ears to letter addressed (1820) to the son of 

the ground. But after a while, the the Marshal." 
rain having ceased and the clouds 



FOUETH DAY— GROUCHY'S PURSUIT. 



l6l 



by the bridges at Moiisty and Ottignies, to take the road The Cam- 
to Maransart and Planchenoit ; or to adhere to the Em- wlSeXo. 
peror's orders to follow the Prussians, whom they now june is. 
knew to be at Wavre.^^ Gerard, supported by Van- 
damme, was ardently in favour of moving at once to- 
ward the firing ; Gen. Baltus, commander of the artillery, 
objected on the score of the impossibility of transport- 
ing the guns and ammunition through the swamps about 
the numberless heads of the Dyle, to which Gen. 
Valaze, Gerard's commanding engineer, replied that he 
had three companies of sappers who could overcome 
many of the obstacles ; and Gerard undertook to get 
the guns across, and urged that at least he might be 
allowed to go with his own corps. But Grouchy per- 



^^ It sliould he noted that Napo- 
leon's lo A.M. order, written as he 
was preparing for the battle, and 
now on its way (see note 88, page 
149), instructed Grouchy to " direct 
your movements upon Wavre, so that 
you may approach us, . . . pushing 
"before you the corps of the Prussian 
army which have taken this direc- 
tion, and which may have stopped at 
Wavre, where you should arrive as 
soon as possible."' There can be no 
doubt, therefore, of Napoleon's view 
at that time of Grouchy's proper 
course, or of the Marshal's good 
judgment in trying to determine his 
master's wishes. Thiers none the 
less censures Grouchy for doing pre- 
cisely what Napoleon directed, 
though before Grouchy knew that he 
had done so, and for adhering to his 
original judgment after the arrival 
of the dispatch confirmed it. The 
dispatch was too well known 
through long controversy to be sup- 
pressed, according to his usual cus- 
tom ; but this is what Thiers does 



about it : — " This deplorably ambi- 
guous dispatch " [the ambiguity he 
attributes with his wonted iteration 
to SoidtJ, " interpreted in its true 
sense and according to the position 
of affairs, could only mean that, in- 
stead of following the Liege road, 
where the Prussians had been sought 
for a short time, Grouchy sliould 
turn towards Brussels, it being 
known with certainty that the 
e^emy had taken that direction 
which the despatch mentioned under 
the general name of Wavi'e . . . The 
man must certainly be mentally 
blind who could not understand such 
orders. It was evident that Wavre 
was only a general expression signi- 
fying the di?-ection of Brussels in op- 
position to that of Liege" Surely 
such gross casuistry is enough to 
strip its author of any lingering 
shred of respect for Thiers the 
statesman, that might palliate this 
unscrupulous partisanship of Thiers 
the historian. 



M 



i62 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

sistecl in adhering to the orders the Emperor had given 
him, adducing also the reasons that a march of fourteen 
miles, over unknown but certainly difficult ground, and 
with his right flank constantly exposed to the enemy, 
could scarcely bring them to the Emperor in time to be 
of any service on that day, while the Prussians were as 
likely to be awaiting him at Wavre or retreating to 
Louvain as they were to be marching toward Welling- 
ton ; and — in spite of Gerard's impassioned and at last 
offensive remonstrances — he directed the continuance of 
the- advance on Wavre already in progress. Accord- 
ingly, the march went on, until, at Baracque, near 
Wavre, Excelmans' horse and Vandamme's infantry came 
upon Pirch's rearguard, as it was following his advance 
brigades through Wavre on their march westward. By 
this time also, farther on the French left, that detach- 
ment of Billow's corps which had been left under Le- 
debur's command at Mont St. Guibert^^ was moving 
northward to follow its corps toward Waterloo, and 
now found itself almost cut off from th6 Prussian army 
by Excelmans' advance. With the assistance of some 
of Pirch's cavalry and horse-artillery, Ledebur made his 
way to the body of Pirch's rearguard behind Baracque ; 
and the combined Prussian force, under the command of 
Gen. von Brause, made a successful stand against Yan- 
damme until all was ready for their continued retreat. 
Then Brause crossed the Dyle at Bierge, destroying the 
bridge and burning a mill on the river- bank which 
covered it, and, leaving a regiment of cavalry and two 
battahons of infantry to guard this part of the stream, 
proceeded toward Waterloo. Thielmann was now left 
alone at Wavre, and with but a part of his corps ; for 
he had judged from the languor of the French advance 
and their omission to occupy the passes of the river 

'■"' See text, page 153. 



BATTLE OF WAVRE. 1 63 

from Mousty to Limale that it was only a weak detacli- The cam 
ment that had come upon him ; and, in accordance with wSeri'oo'' 
Bllicher's instructions for such a case,^^ he had con- June is. 
sidered a few battahons sufficient to hold Wavre, and 
had ordered the mass of his corps to follow the general 
movement to the right, so that two of his brigades were 
already in full hue of march westward. As Vandamme's 
corps came up, and it became evident how great a force 
he must encounter, Thielmann sent to call back his 
retiring troops ; but so many of them had already passed 
beyond his reach that he was left with but 1 5,200 men to 
check the progress of 33,000 whom Grouchy was as- 
sembhng against him.^^ The Prussian general's task 
was to hold six bridges by which the French might 
cross the Dyle and move to their Emperor's assistance 
— the two highest at Limale, the next at Bierge, two 
within the limits of Wavre, and one below the town at 
the suburb of Bas Wavre. Yandamme opened the Battle of 
action by directing a heavy cannonade upon the Prussian 4 r^^^' 
position in that part of the valley about Wavre itself, 
while his light troops quickly got possession of the 
suburb of the town on the eastern bank, which the 
Prussians did not seriously attempt to hold. Grouchy 
was directing this attack when he received his first 4P-^!- 
communication from the Emperor since the beginning 
of his march — the orders sent at 10 o'clock in the 
morning, which had been thus long in transit because 

^'^ See text, page 155, at "Wavre," said the old Field Mar- 
^® As Thielmann in the course shal, " but at Waterloo, that the 
of the action became aware how campaign is to be decided." His con- 
heavily he was overmatched, he sent stancy in thus relinquishing a section 
to Bliicher for aid. Each of the con- of his army to probable destruction, 
tending generals had occasion on this that he might fulfil his obligations in 
day to make epigrammatic rejoinders the main action, received emphatic 
to demands for reinforcements, and encomiums from his English allies. 
Bllicher's was made now. " It is not 

M 2 



164 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



the occupation of the intervening country by the Prus- 
sians had forced tlie bearer to make a long circuit 
through Quatre Bras and SombrelFe.^^ The order was 
distinct in its instructions to " push before you the corps 
of the Prussian army which have taken this direction, 
and which may have stopped at Wavre ; " so far, too, 
as Groucliy was yet aware, the entire Prussian army 
misht be in or about Wavre ; and he was, moreover, 
abeady committed to a combat from which he could 



99 Pot the order see note 88, 
page 149; aud for Thiers' interpreta- 
tion of it, note 95, page 161. Its 
history is given by Thiers at inter- 
vals throughont a great many pages, 
principally as follows: — "He [Na- 
poleon] sent for Zenowicz, a Polish 
officer, appointed to bear his message, 
and leading him to a height from 
which they could see the country 
round, he said, turning to the right, 
' I expect Grouchy on this side ; I 
await his arrival impatiently ; go to 
him, bring him with you, and do not 
leave him until his corps d'armee 
debouches on our line of battle.' Na- 
poleon ordered this officer to march 
as quicldy as possible, first getting 
from Marshal Soult a written order, 
which would give more in detail the 
orders he had just issued verbally. 
. . . The Polish officer . . . lost an 
hour w^aitiug for Marshal Soult's 
written despatch. This ambiguous 
despatch was not worth the time it 
cost. ... At this moment [i.e. wlien 
Grouchy was beginning the attack 
on Wavre] arrived the Polish officer 
Zenovicz, who should have left La 
Belle Alliance at half-past ten, but had 
been detained an hour longer through 
Marshal Soult's fault, and who, to 
avoid being captured, had retrograded 
to Quatre Bras, whence he had pro- 
ceeded to Sombre ffi3, from Sombre ffe 



to Gembloux, and from Gembloux to 
Wavre, where, in consequence of 
Marshal Soult's ddatoriness, he had 
not arrived until four o'clock. He 
brought the despatch of which w^e 
have already spoken, and which, un- 
fortunately, was most ambiguous.' 
Having spent as many words upon 
it as it was humanly possible, Thiers 
proceeds to divest the despatch of 
its ambiguity by his elucidation, 
already quoted (note 95, page 161), 
that the word " Wavre " is " only a 
general expression signifying the di- 
rection of Brussels." He then reverts 
to Napoleon's words to the Pole, and 
proceeds : " Grouchy could only see 
in the written and verbal order that 
he was to advance to Wavre itself. 
' Itvas right, ^ he said to his lieutenant, 
' in coming to Wavre.'' Gen. Gerard's 
excitement knew no bovmds, and was 
manifested both in word and gesture. 
' I told you,' he said to Grouchy, 
' that if we were ruined we should 
have to thank you for it.' This was 
followed by most irritating remarks, 
and Adjutant Zenovicz retired, that 
by his presence he might not make 
matters worse. Marshal Grouchy 
persisted in his opinion, and, as if to 
carry out his instructions still more 
rigidly, he ordered a vigorous attack 
to be made on Wavre." 



BATTLE OF WAVRE. 1 65 

not disengage himself, since his only way to " approach Battle of 
lis," as the Emperor's order phrased it, lay through the ^I^ 
enemy in his front. He urged on the action, therefore, 
with all possible vigour. Its details need not be entered 
upon here — where it is only important with reference 
to its influence on the battle of Waterloo — further than 
to say that Thielmann, compensated for his inferior 
numbers by holding only enough hght troops at each 
menaced point to resist sudden assault until supports 
could be brought up from the rear, and made good his 
hold upon all the bridges throughout the afternoon. 
Grouchy 's determined efforts to pass the river had been 
uniformly foiled by the skill and valour with which the 
enemy defended their favourable position, and the fight 7p-m. 
still continued, when he received Napoleon's order of 
I P.M., with the postscript announcing Billow's approach 
and calling upon him to counteract it.^°*^ He could do 
no more than renew his attacks, one of which, on the 
bridge at Limale, proved successful, and the crossing of 
the river was secured. But Thielmann, on finding his 
position turned, brought up troops from his reserve 
which checked the advance of such French as had 
passed the river until darkness put an end to the con- '^^s^^- 
test. Grouchy, ignorant of what had passed at Waterloo, 
spent much of the night in perfecting his dispositions 
for renewing the attack next day. Thielmann, on the 
contrary, had learned that the Allies had gained a com- 
plete victory ; and, supposing that Grouchy would im- 
mediately retreat, began before day an attack upon the June 19, 
French before Limale. Grouchy was, however, by this 
time greatly superior in strength on the west bank ; he 
defeated Thielmann in three successive attempts to 
make a stand against him, taking Bierge and Wavre 
itself; and, after seeing the Prussians move off in retreat, 10 a.m. 

10° See note 88, page 150. 



i66 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



he was preparing to march himself upon Brussels, when 
he learned what had befallen the Grand Army at 
Waterloo. A messenger, sent by Napoleon after mid- 
night, while flying toward Charleroi, brought news of 
the disaster, and added that the remains of the army 
were to gather at the Sambre. Grouchy's advance at 
once stopped. He at first meditated following the main 
Prussian army ; but, knowing his force to be inadequate 
to meet the strength that could be directed against him, 
he promptly began a retreat to Namur, which he reached 
the next day, and thence passed by Dinant and Givet 
into France. ^°^ 

[_Note on Grouchy's absence from Waterloo. — The nature of 
the foregoing narrative restricted it to the account of what 
Grrouchy actually did on the momentous 1 7th and 1 8th of June. 
It is impossible to leave this part of the subject, however, 
without considering the charge, originated by Napoleon and 
adhered to by Napoleonists, that Grrouchy's failure to do cer- 
tain other things caused the result of Waterloo, with all its 
consequences upon the fall of Napoleon, upon France, and upon 
Europe. 

The events, dates, and orders embodied in the narrative 
clearly establish these conclusions as to what passed before 
the beginning of the battle of Waterloo — that Napoleon's ne- 
glect to give the orders for the pursuit of the Prussians, which 
Grrouchy sought vainly to obtain, retarded the beginning of that 
pursuit from 10 or 10.30 P.M. of June i6th till 3 p.m. of June 
1 7th ; that the fifteen hours' start thus obtained was so em- 
ployed by Bliicher as to put his junction with Wellington on 



^°^ The Prussian loss at Wavre on 
June 18-19 was 2,476: of the French 
no returns were given, but they were 
estimated as not greatly different. 
Among the French wounded was 
Gen. Gerard, who, Thiers relates, 
" feeling a presentiment that at that 
moment the French army was being 



defeated for want of assistance, 
rushed in despair on the mill of 
Bierge. . . . The illustrious general, 
whose ad^dce would have saved 
France, had it been followed, sought 
death and nearly found it, A ball 
passed through his body, he fell, but 
the bridge was not carried." 



grouchy's movements. 167 



the I Sth beyond peradventure ; that, when Grrouchy was at last Grouchy'a 

Move- 
ments. 



sent in pursuit, Napoleon directed him upon a course far to the °^^' 
east of that the Prussians had taken; so that, while Bliicher 
was approaching Wellington, Grrouchy was diverging from Na- 
poleon ; and that on the night of the 17th and morning of the 
I Sth Bliicher was at the selected point, beyond the impassable 
district round the head waters of the Dyle, where but eight 
miles separated him from Wellington, whereas Grouchy was at 
the same time fourteen miles from Napoleon, with swamps and 
swollen streams between them. The narrative, however, has 
not brought out, except indirectly, one important precaution 
in which both Napoleon and Grrouchy were gravely and equally 
remiss, throughout the period thus far considered and to the 
end — neither made any attempt to connect their inner flanks by 
cavalry patrols, and so they were absolutely ignorant of what the 
country between them contained — that country being in fact 
in possession of the more vigilant Prussians. Both Napoleon 
and Grrouchy were abundantly, indeed superbly, equipped with 
cavalry ; but they used their strength so little that the Prus- 
sians' horse scoured the whole region between the two French 
armies and into their very rear, so much so that communication 
by messengers could only be had by a detour round three sides 
of a quadrangle, from the field of Waterloo at one end by way 
of Quatre Bras and Sombreffe to Wavre at the other ; Grrouchy, 
not exploring on his left flank, was unaware of the passage of 
the two entire corps of Zieten and Pirch through Grentinnes to 
Wavre ; Napoleon, not reconnoitring beyond the right of his 
actual position, left the Wood of Paris on his very flank to be 
occupied without hindrance by Biilow, whom a few squadrons 
might have checked in the valley of the Lasne. To this ne- 
glect, finally, it was due that Napoleon never suspected Bliicher's 
cross-march until the Prussians showed themselves on the 
heights of St. Lambert ; and Grrouchy, on his side, was un- 
aware of it when he began the battle of Wavre. From this 
joint neglect and consequent ignorance, it is not too much to 
say that nothing could have been done after the morning of 
June I Sth, by either Napoleon or Grrouchy, which would arrest 
the junction of Bliicher and Wellington or avert the catas- 
trophe. It is true that Napoleon's orders directed G-rouchy to 



1 68 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

preserve the communication between the armies (see 2 p.m. 
order of June 17th, note 88, page 148), and that in this re- 
spect he was remiss ; but there was equal need of vigilance 
on the part of Napoleon, who did absolutely nothing toward 
preserving communication with his lieutenant. 

It appears, then, that, down to the time of the opening of 
the battle of Waterloo, Grrouchy must be exonerated from any 
blame for avoidable delay in his operations ; but must be 
censured, along with Napoleon, for negligent patrolling of the 
country through which he advanced. Next comes the charge 
made by Napoleon and his eulogists, that Grrouchy was crimi- 
nally stupid in not turning aside from Wavre as soon as he 
knew battle was joined, which he learned at Sart-les-Walhains 
at 11.30 A.M., from the sound of cannon. Thiers, the foremost 
of the Napoleonist writers, states the case thus : — " It was 
Marshal Grrouchy 's duty to prevent this junction [of Bliicher 
and Wellington]. A glance at the chart will show that nothing 
could be easier than to effect this. . . . Grrouchy was as near to 
Napoleon as Bliicher was to Wellington. . . . The cannon, 
which was soon to make the country around re-echo with its 
thunders, ought to have been the most unmistakable of all 
orders ... to join Napoleon." Now, ist, -Grrouchy at this 
time — owing to the failure to reconnoitre— was no more aware 
than was Napoleon that Bliicher was marching toward Wel- 
lington ; 2nd, Napoleon, saying that he was himself about to 
follow and fight the English, had sent Grrouchy to follow and 
fight the Prussians. Was Grrouchy therefore, when the cannon 
told him that Napoleon was fighting the English, as he had 
expected to do, to desist on that account from fighting the 
Prussians ? Napoleon answered this absurd notion conclusively 
in his 10 A.M. order, when, concluding his own arrangements for 
the fight, he said to Grrouchy, " Direct your movements upon 
Wavre." Nothing is left, therefore, of Thiers' position except 
his assertion that it was " easy " for Grrouchy to check the 
Prussians, and that he was " as near to Napoleon as Bliicher 
was to Wellington." The map shows at a glance that Grrouchy's 
march from Sart-les-Walhains to Planchenoit would be more 
than twice as long as Bliicher's from Wavre to Ohain ; but the 
map cannot show the far greater difficulties of the route. Even 



ments. 



GROUCHY'S MOVEMENTS. 1 69 

before the great storm of the 17th and the following night, the Grouchy's 
Prussians had preferred to fall back all the way to Wavre, with ^°^^' 
the expectation of the additional cross-march, rather than try 
to pass this almost impassable country (see note 66 adfinem, 
page 118). These obstacles are considered by Thiers only so 
far as to say that the armies were separated by " the Dyle, an 
insignificant little river flowing from Grenappe to Wavre " — 
which scarcely suggests what it eventually cost Grrouchy to pass 
the Dyle when Thielmann held the bridges, as he or another 
would in any case have done, or how long the passage of the 
Lasne defied Biilow. Thiers arrives at the alleged ease of the 
proposed march in another way: — "The owner of the chateau 
where Grrouchy was breakfasting said that the battlefield was 
at about a distance of between 3 and 4 leagues [which was, of 
course, sheer guess-work], and that they could reach it in less 
than 4 hours. A guide who had been long in the French 
service promised to lead the army to Mont St. Jean in 3^ 
hours or perhaps less. The inhabitants of the locality said it 
would require 3-| hours or 4 at the utmost to accomplish this 
march. Let us allow 5, which is a great deal for such enthu- 
siastic troops, and, supposing they set out at noon, they would 
arrive at 5 in the afternoon. Grerard's corps would arrive an 
hour later, that is at 6, but the very sight of Vandamme's 
corps would have produced the desired effect, which Grerard's 
would only have to complete." ^^^ The curious diversity of 
speculations on this point and its practical test are thus stated 
by Chesney : " As Quinet points out. Napoleon at St. Helena 
assumed that the Marshal was 2 hours' march from Waterloo, 
Gren. Valaze (Grrouchy's engineer) 3 hours, Gerard 4^, and 
Jomini 5 ; whilst Charras makes the distance 8 or 9 hours. 

^°^ On another page the Philadel- that Grouchy, who had been at Som- 

phia edition makes Thiers say that breffe at i o'clock, ^'thoughtlessly 

Grouchy at Gembloux was " only hastened to Namur," and was back 

6 [leagues] from Napoleon, a dis- again by 3 o'clock. As the distance 

tance that could be traversed by a involved is above 30 miles, it seems 

pedestrian in three-quarters of an probable that " to " should read 

hour " — a mistranslation, of course, " toward." There are so many such 

for " three or four hours." On the lapses in this edition as to make it 

page preceding, the translator, by a a dangerous guide — even if it were 

similar felicity, makes Thiers affirm otherwise in its French integrity. 



170 QUATEE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

To settle this vexed question, Quinet procured an itinerary of 
the actual road proposed for Grrouchy's troops, and found that a 
single passenger on foot, walking quickly from Sart-les-Wal- 
hains to Planchenoit, takes five hours and a half. From this 
he very properly concludes that the estimate of Charras is by 
no means an excessive one for the movement of a corps 
d'armee." Biilow began his march from Nil St. Vincent, 
Chesney continues, " at 7 A.M., lost two hours owing to the fire 
in Wavre, and collected his whole corps at Planchenoit at 5 -SO? 
having actually occupied in the operation 8^ hours. Grrouchy, 
at Sart-les-Walhains, had just 3 miles further to move as the 
crow flies, and it was near noon when the march was proposed. 
Tried by the test of the Prussian marching, the proposed ad- 
vantage of his flank movement fails as certainly as if examined 
by the simpler proof of Quinet." ^^^ Instead of this march to 
join the Emperor, Thiers and others have held that Grouchy 
might have surprised the Prussians on their cross-march and 
attacked them in flank. Whereto Chesney quotes Jomini's 
reply as follows : " ' The Prussian Marshal, after having observed 
Grouchy 's force, would have judged the divisions of Pirch and 
Thielmann sufficient to hold it back whilst with those of 
Biilow and Zieten he aided Wellington to decide the victory.' 
To this opinion we [Chesney] need only add the remark that 
Thielmann alone did actually for six hours afford Grouchy 
that resistance to offer which Jomini declares would at the 
most have occupied his corps and that of Pirch. ... In no 
case could Grouchy, according to a fair theoretical view, have 
in any way stopped more than two of the four Prussian corps ; 
and, judging from the actual facts as they occurred, he could 
hardly have stopped more than one." 

If the facts and deductions stated in this note are correct, 
it follows — ( 1st) that Napoleon's delays allowed the Prussians 
fifteen hours for their undisturbed retreat from Ligny — time 

1°^ It deserves to be mentioned Gerard attached to the book in which 

that the assailants of Grouchy in this he attacked his commander " une 

affair descended to the expedient of carte trh-inexaete du theatre des ope- 

falsifying the map to support their rations de Orouchy." 
assertions. Oharras observes that 



grouchy's movements. 171 

enough to ensure their junction with the English ; (2d) that Grouchy'; 
Napoleon sent off Grrouchy, against his earnest protest, to mente, 
march in a false direction; (3d) that Napoleon and Grrouchy 
were equally remiss in that failure to reconnoitre which kept 
both of them in ignorance of the Prussian cross-march until 
the battle of Waterloo was well advanced ; (4th) that Grrouchy 
could not, after he knew of the cross-march, have prevented 
half, or perhaps three-fourths, of Bliicher's army from joining 
Wellington. Mathematically stated, the censure for this result 
should therefore be apportioned in the ratio of one part to 
Grrouchy and five parts to Napoleon. This summary of over 
sixty years' criticism of this much-controverted march may be 
fitly closed by putting in juxtaposition the conclusions drawn 
by two of the ablest antagonistic disputants : — 

Thiers, History of the Consulate and the ETnjpire. 

" Marshal Grouchy's fault can only be lessened by taking 
into consideration the great services he had formerly performed 
and his truly loyal and devotedly good intentions. As Napo- 
leon said, Grouchy was as useless to the army on that fatal day 
as though an earthquake had engulfed him and removed him 
from all participation in human affairs. His neglecting the 
duty imposed on him, that of preventing the Prussians from 
joining the English, was the real cause of our overthrow." 

Chesney, Waterloo Lectures : a Study of the Campaign 
0/1815. 

" The notion that Grouchy is responsible for the Waterloo 
defeat must be dismissed, by those who choose to weigh the 
evidence, from the domain of authentic history to the limbo 
of national figments. ... In plain truth, never has a single 
reputation been so grossly sacrificed to save national vanity as 
in this matter of Grouchy and Waterloo. So far from earning 
for him blame, the Marshal's conduct, weighing all the circum- 
stances of the campaign, should have crowned his old age with 
honour. That the result has been so different is due simply to 



1^2 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



the popular demand by the French for a scapegoat which 
should bear the shame cast upon them by their defeat, and to 
the readiness with which Napoleon supplied it in his lieu- 
tenant."] 

The village of Waterloo — which gave its name to 
the battle from the accidental circumstance that it was 
thence the Duke of Wellington dated the despatch 
announcing his victory, together perhaps with its easier 
pronunciability by English tongues than the names of the 
places where the contest in fact was waged ^^^ — is situated 
ten miles south of Brussels on the great highroad from 
the capital to Charleroi and northern France, and lies 
just at the southern limit of the Forest of Soignies, 
which the road has hitherto traversed. ^"^ Nearly two 



^°^ Waterloo is one of those battles 
— like Blenlieim, or the Battle of the 
Nile, or Bunker Hill — whose adopted 
designations are misnomers. Accord- 
ing to Victor Hugo's digression on 
the Battle of Waterloo in Les Misera- 
bles, " Were ever the sic vos non vobis 
applicable, it is most certainly to this 
village of Waterloo, which did no- 
thing and was half a league away 
from the action. Mont St. Jean was 
cannonaded, Hougomont burned, Pa- 
pelotte burned, Planchenoit burned, 
La Haye Sainte carried by storm, 
and La Belle Alliance witnessed the 
embrace of the two victors ; but 
these names are scarce known, and 
Waterloo, which did nothing during 
the battle, has all the honour of it." 
Southey uplifts a similar testimony: 
in his notea to The Poet's Pihjrimage 
to Waterloo, he observes, " Our guide 
was ver}^ much displeased at the 
name which the battle had obtained 
in England. ' Why call it the Battle 
of Waterloo ? ' he said, — ' call it 
Mont St. Jean, call it La Belle Alli- 



ance, call it Hougomont, call it La 
Haye Sainte, call it Papelotte — any- 
thing but Waterloo ? ' " Thiers speaks 
in similar terms. The explanation 
is simple — that the Duke of Wel- 
lington, after the close of the battle, 
withdrew to Waterloo, and there 
prepared and thence dated and sent 
the despatch announcing the victory. 
^°^ The poetical allusions which 
cluster about Waterloo frequently 
associate themselves rather with its 
scenes than with the incidents about 
to be described, and therefore occur 
unavoidably in anticipation of the 
narrative. As the text, however, is 
complete in itself, no apology is 
deemed necessary for the attempt to 
group here such expressions as throw 
light upon either the events or the 
current sentiment of the time. Two 
of the enthusiastic British poets of 
the day made a careful itinerary of 
the scenes of the campaign shortly 
after its conclusion, Scott recording 
his impressions in his Field of Water- 
loo, Southey in The Foefs Filgrimage 



WATERLOO— THE BATTLEFIELD. 



173 



miles soutli of the village of Waterloo is that of Mont Waterloo. 
St. Jean, where the road forks, the chaussee to Qnatre The Battie- 



field. 



to Waterloo, while Byron's hero of 
CJiilde Haroldh Pilgrimage gives ex- 
pression to the most fervent and 
impressive rhapsody that the theme 
has elicited, but lends to it little of 
local colouring. On the contrary, 
Byron even vpithholds its popular 
designation from the Forest of Soi- 
gnies, preferring to " adopt the name 
connected with nobler associations 
than those of mere slauo-hter," which 



Soignies is supposed to be a remnant 
of the ' Forest of Ardennes,' famous 
in Boiardo's Orlando, and immortal 
in Shakespeare's As You Like It. It 
is also celebrated in Tacitus as being 
the spot of successful defence by 
the Germans against the Roman en- 
croachments." Byron's mention of 
the word is in his description of the 
march of the British troops from 
Brussels to Quatre Bras in the night 
of June 1 8 th : — 



he explains thus : — '' The Wood of 

" And x\rdennes waves above them her green leaves 
Dewy Math nature's tear-drops, as they pass, 
Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves, 
Over the unreturning brave, — alas ! 
Ere evening to be trodden like the grass 
Which now beneath them, but above shall grow 
In its next verdure, rolling on the foe. 
And, burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low." 

Southey is more explicitly geographical, in the following manner : — 

" Southward from Brussels lies the field of blood. 
Some three hours' journey for a well-girt man ; 
A horseman who in haste pursued his road 
Would reach it as the second hour began. 
The way is through a forest deep and wide. 
Extending many a mile on either side. 

" No cheerful woodland this of antic trees. 

With thickets varied and with sunny glade ; 
Look where he will, the weary traveller sees 

One gloomy, thick, impenetrable shade 
Of tall, straight trunks, which move before his sight, 
With interchange of lines of long green light, 

" Here, where the woods, receding from the road, 
Have left, on either hand an open space 
For fields and gardens, and for man's abode. 

Stands Waterloo, a little, lowly place. 
Obscure till now, when it hath risen to fame, 
And given the victory its English name." 



Southev then goes on with nine more stanzas about the Waterloo church 



174 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 



Waterloo. 



The Battle- 
field. 



Bras and Charier oi continuing southward, while that 
diverging westwardly leads to Nivelles. Both of these 
roads cross the battlefield, but it is the Charleroi road 
upon which, still south of the village of Mont St. Jean, 
stands the farm of the same name, which is the spot so 
designated in descriptions of the battle. This farm of 
Mont St. Jean is in the immediate rear of the centre of 
the Anglo- Allied position, and may be called the north- 
ern limit of the field. ^^^ Continuing its straight course 



and graveyard, mucli as might be 
expected. Scott gets over the same 
ground more lightly : — 

" Fair Brussels, thou art far behind, 
Though lingering on the morning 
wind, 

We yet may hear the hour 
Peal'd over orchard and canal, 
With voice prolong'd and measur'd 
fall. 
From proud St. Michael's 
tower ; 
Thy wood, dark Soignies, holds us 

now, 
Where the tall beeches' glossy 
bough 

For many a league around, 
With birch and darksome oak 

between. 
Spreads deep and far a pathless 
screen, 

Of tangled forest ground. 

Stems planted close by stems defy 

The adventurous foot — the curious 

eye 

For access seeks in vain : 

And the brown tapestry of leaves, 

Strew'd on the blighted ground, 

receives 

Nor sun, nor air, nor rain. 
No opening glade dawns on our 

way, 
No streamlet, glancing to the ray. 



Our woodland path has cross'd ; 
And the straight causeway which 

we tread 
Prolongs a line of dull arcade 
Unvarying through the unvarying 
shade 

Until in distance lost, 

" A brighter, livelier scene succeeds ; 
In 'groups the scattering wood 

recedes. 
Hedge-rows, and huts, and sunny 
meads, 

And corn-fields glance between, 
,«■•••• 

" And, lo, a hamlet and its lane : — 
Let not the gazer with disdain 
Their architecture view ; 
For yonder rude ungraceful shrine, 
And disproportioned spire, are 
thine. 
Immortal Waterloo ! " 

This miornamental church — whose 
legendary origin in the time of 
Charles II of Spain is recited by 
Southey — has been supplemented by 
a much more considerable structure, 
which is filled with monumental in- 
scriptions to those who fell in the 
battle, 

^°^ Southey was last heard from 
in the Waterloo churchyard : he con- 
tinues, geographically : — 



WATERLOO— THE BATTLEFIELD. 



175 



beyond Mont St. Jean, the Charleroi road surmounts a Waterloo. 
rang;e of low lieiofhts, whicli cross it at right angles and TheBattie- 

» ^ . ^ ^ . field. 

along the brow of which was posted the front line of 
the Enghsh army ; it passes then, mostly on an embank- 
ment, but in one spot through a cut, over an undulating 

" Soon shall we reach that scene of mighty deeds, 
In one unbending line a short league hence ; 
Aright the forest from the road recedes, 

With wide sweep trending south and westward thence ; 
Aleft along the line it keeps its place, 
Some half-hour's distance at a traveller's pace. 

" Behold the scene where slaughter had full sway ! 

A mile before us lieth Mount St, John, 
The hamlet which the Highlanders that day 

Preserved from spoil ; yet as much further on 
The single farm is placed, no"<v known to fame, 
Which from the sacred hedge derives its name." 



The -last line is Southey's poetical 
method of indicating La Haye 
Sainte, which is mentioned in greater 
detail presently. Scott, in the pas- 
sage which follows, not only reaches 
La Haye Sainte, hut from it sur- 
veys the valley below, looking toward 
the French position on its southern 
limit : — 

" Scarce a forest straggler now 

To shade us spreads a greenwood 
bouo-h. 



Yet one mile on — yon shatter'd 

hedge 
Crests the smooth hill whose long 

smooth ridge 
Looks on the fields below, 
And sinks so gently on the dale 
That not the folds of Beauty's veil 

In easier curves can flow. 
Brief space from thence the ground 

again. 
Ascending slowly from the plain. 



Forms an opposing screen, 
Which, with its crest of upland 

ground. 
Shuts the horizon all around. 

The soften'd vale between 
Slopes smooth and fair for courser's 

tread. 
Not the most timid maid need 

dread 
To give her snow-white palfrey 

tread 
On that wide stubble-ground ; 
Nor wood, nor tree, nor bush, are 

there. 
Her course to intercept or snare. 

Nor fosse nor fence are found. 
Save where, from out her shat- 
ter'd bowers, 
Rise Hougomont's dismantled 

towers." 

It may not be amiss to mention that 
Scott's poem had been published, and 
a copj^ of it sent to the Laureate, at 
the time when that alleged Poet was 
engaged upon his own production. 



176 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



field. 



Waterloo, vsliallow vallej wliicli lies at the foot of the northern 
The Battle- heights, and reaches a similar ridge which, crossing the 
road from east to west like the former, constitutes the 
southern bound of the valley, and furnished the plateau 
whereon the French army was drawn up, facing the 
English and in a general way parallel with it : it is at 




HV.BE.RMd^N'f-C- 



the inn and farmhouse of La Belle Alhance — the centre 
of the French Hue, and the spot where Napoleon re- 
mained during most of the action — that the road 
reaches the southern heights, whence it continues on its 
way southward to Genappe and Charleroi.^^'' This Char- 
ier oi-Brussels road havino; thus been laid down as a 



^'^^ Soutliey's geograpliy, in the 
last quotation, made what, as a pa- 
triotic Briton, he calls " Mount St. 
John," to be a mile in advance of 
some unspecified point in its rear, 
and stated — by a considerable exag- 
geration of the distance, if he spoke 



of the farm of Mont St. Jean, but 
with reasonable accuracy if he 
meant the village — that the " sacred 
hedge " was " as much fiu'ther on," 
and he next proceeds liberally to 
almost double the actual distance 
thence to the French lines : — 



WATERLOO— THE BATTLEFIELD. I 77 

sort of base line — bisecting as it were the battlefield, Waterloo, 
the positions of the two armies, and the valley separat- The Battie- 
ing them, — no clearer means of locating the prominent 
points in the battle can be found than the homely illus- 
tration employed by Victor Hugo. " Those who wish 
to form a distinct idea of the Battle of Waterloo," he 
says, " need only imagine a capital A laid on the ground. 
The left leg of the A is the Mvelles road, the right one 
the GenapjDC [i.e. Charleroi] road, while the string of 
the A is the broken way running from Ohain to Braine- 
la-Leude. The top of the A is Mont St. Jean, where 
Wellington is ; the left lower point is Hougomont, 
where Eeille is, with Jerome Bonaparte ; the right lower 
23oint is La Belle Alliance, where Napoleon is. A little 
below the point where the string of the A meets and 
cuts the right leg is La Haye Sainte ; and in the centre 
of this string is the exact spot where the battle was 
concluded. It is here that the Hon is placed, the invo- 
luntary symbol of the heroism of the Old Guard. The 

" Straight onward yet for one like distance more, 

And there the house of Belle Alliance stands, 
So named, I guess, by some in days of yore 

In friendship or in wedlock joining hands : 
Little did they who call'd it thus foresee 
The place that name should hold in history ! " 

In lieu of " the Poet's " sagacious public-house, his widow married the 
" guess," Siborne gives in definite farmer of Trimotion ; but, losing him 
prose the story how the inn got its shortly afterwards, she consoled her- 
name : — " On the other side of the self by taking for a third husband a 
road, and commencing opposite the peasant who lived in the other house 
end of the garden of La Belle Alii- alluded to as since occupied by De 
ance, stands the farm-house of Tri- Coster ; but here a^ain death inter- 
motion ; and about 300 yards fur- rupted her happiness, when she once 
ther on the road is a house, the same more embraced the married state, 
that was occupied in 181 5 by Jean and espoused the aubergiste of her 
Batiste de Coster, who, during the first house, which from that time 
battle, served Napoleon in the capa- obtained among the neighbouring 
city of a guide du pays. Upon the peasantry the title it now bears — la 
death of a former landlord of this belle (dliance.^^ 



178 



QUATRE BRAS, LTGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Waterloo, triangle comprised at the top of the A, between the two 
The B.attie- legs and the string, is the plateau of Mont St. Jean : 
the dispute for this plateau was the whole battle. The 
wings of the two armies extend to the right and left of 
the Genappe and Nivelles roads. . . . Behind the point 
of the A, behind the plateau of St. Jean, is the Forest 
of Soignies. As for the plan itself, imagine a vast 
undulating ground : each ascent commands the next 
ascent, and all the undulations ascend to Mont St. Jean, 
where they form the forest." ^*^^ 



surmounted by a bronze figure of 
the Belgic lion. The top of the 
mound is the favourite point from 
which to view the field. It was the 
absence of any such emblem at the 
time of his visit to Waterloo that 
Bja'on records in the opening stanza 
of the celebrated passage in Childe 
Harold : — 



108 rpj^g Qj^jy point in Victor 
Hugo's description which need be 
dwelt upon at present is the Monu- 
ment, as it will not be referred to 
again. This much-derided work of 
art stands upon the spot where the 
Piince of Orange was wounded in 
the battle, and consists of a conical 
mound nearly 200 feet in height, 

" Stop ! — for thy tread is on an Empire's dust. 
An earthquake's spoil is sepulchred below ! 
Is the spot mark'd with no colossal bust ? 
Nor column trophied for triumphal show ? 
None ; but the moral's truth tells simpler so. 
As the ground was before, thus let it be ; — 
How that red rain hath made the harvest grow ! 
And is this all the world has gain'd by thee, 
Thou first and last of fields ! king-making Victory ? " 



Victor Hugo enlarges upon the 
monument and its surroundings — 
" Everybody is aware that the vm- 
dulations of the plain in which the 
encounter between Napoleon and 
Wellington took place are no longer 
as they were on June i8th, 181 5. 
On taking from this mournful plain 
the materials to make a monument, 
it was deprived of its real relics, and 
history, disconcerted, no longer re- 
cognises itself; in order to glorify, 
they disfigured. Wellington, on 
seeing Waterloo ten years after, ex- 



claimed, ' My battlefield has been 
altered.' Where the huge pyramid 
of earth surmounted by a lion now 
stands, there was a crest which, on 
the side of the Nivelles road, had 
a practicable ascent, but which, on 
the side of the Genappe road was al- 
most an escarpment. The elevation 
of this escarpment may still be 
imagined by the height of the two 
great tombs which skirt the road 
from Genappe to Brussels : the Eng- 
lish tomb is on the left, the German 
tomb on the right. There is no 



WATERLOO— THE BATTLEFIELD. I 79 

The position of the Anglo-AUied front hne lay along Waterloo, 
the crest of the northern heights, for a distance of some The Battie- 
two miles from wing to wing. The direction of the 
heights themselves was from east to west, — receding by , 

a slight curve toward the north at the eastern end of 
the hne, and by an abrupt turn to the north at their 
western limit, the Nivelles road ; — but the position held 
by the troops took somewhat the form of a shallow 
crescent, whose horns protruded from the heights and 
rested upon advanced posts, at either end of the valley, 
which they held in force — a cluster of farms and ham- 
lets on the east, and the stronghold of Hougomont on 
the west. Disregarding for the present these posts in 
advance of the wings, the front line may be said to 
follow throughout its whole extent the course of a 
country road which — entering the field from Wavre 
and Ohain on the east — runs along the brow of the 
heights, crosses the Charleroi-Brussels road at right 
angles before Mont St. Jean and then the Nivelles road 
(forming in the section between these two the string of 
Victor Hugo's A), and emerges from the western limit 
of the field before the village of Merbe Braine, thence 
running onward to Braine-la-Leude, Avhich, though occu- 
pied by troops, lay outside of the scene of conflict. 
This road, though unjDaved, was in good condition, and 
afforded uninterrupted communication laterally between 
the different corps of the army, and it was "bounded 

French tomlj, — for France the whole abrupt. The incline was so sharp 
plain is a sepulchre. Through the that the Enghsh gunners could not 
thousands of cart-loads of earth em- see beneath them the farhi situ- 
ployed in erecting the mound, which ated in the bottom of the valley, 
is 1 50 feet high and half a mile in which was the centre of the fight, 
circumference, the plateau of Mont On June 18, 181 5, the rain had ren- 
St. Jean is now accessible by a dered the steep road more diificult, 
gentle incline ; but on the day of the and the troops not only had to 
battle, and especially on the side of climb up, but slipped in the mud," 
La Haye Sainte, it was steep and 

N 2 



l8o QUATRE BRAS, LlGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

by a quickset hedge in some parts, and deeply sunk in 
others, forming a kind of fosse ^ covering so completely 
the entire English position that one might be tempted 
to believe it expressly fashioned for the occasion." ^^^ The 
heights themselves sloped not only in front toward the 
valley where the battle was to take place, but also in rear, 
into a hollow parallel with it, which intervened between 
the position-heights and the extended plateau of Mont 
St. Jean. On this reverse slope the troops that were to 
bear the shock of the contest upon the crest might find 
shelter from the French cannonade during the intervals 
of fighting ; and in the hollow the supports and reserves 
could be moved without discovery by the French, who 
were thus compelled to deliver their charges against a 
foe who was to a great extent unseen — as Thiers terms 
it, " in ambush." The country in rear of the position 
proper was perfectly open, and offered no obstructions 
to the movement of troops of all arms." ^^^ 

'°* The quoted clauses are from road was, and. still is, a trench for 

Thiers. Victor Hugo describes this the greater part of the distance ; a 

road more carefully : — " All along hollow trench, in some places twelve 

the centre of the crest of the plateau feet deep, whose scarped sides were 

ran a species of ditch, which it was washed down here and there by the 

impossible for a distant observer to winter rains. ... On the day of 

guess. We will state what this the battle, this hollow-way, whose 

ditch was. Braine-la-Letide is a existence nothing revealed, a trench 

Belgian village, and Ohain is another; on the top of the escarpment, a rut 

these villages, both concealed in hoi- hidden in the earth, was invisible, 

lows, are connected by a road about that is to say, terrible." This omi- 

a league and a half in length, which nous conclusion is for purposes of its 

traverses an undulating plain and author's own, which will appear 

frequently buries itself between hills, presently (note i88, page 287). 
so as to become at certain spots a ^^° The description of the English 

ravine. In 181 5, as to-day, this position as taken from the ground 

road crossed the crest of Mont St. may be supplemented by the account 

Jeau ; but at the present day it is of its appearance from the French 

level with the ground, while at that side of the field, as seen by the Erck- 

time it was a hollow-way. The two mann-Chatrian conscript. He stands 

slopes have been carried away to on the eastei'n side of the Charleroi- 

form the monumental mound. This Brussels road, near La Belle Alii- 



WATERLOO— THE BATTLEFIELD, 



I«I 



The position of the French army was determined by Waterloo, 
that of the Anglo-Allies, and was so far similar to it TheBattie- 
that its front line lay along the brow of a crescent- 
shaped range of heights, with its wings bowed forward 
so as to approach Hougomont on its left and the 
eastern cluster of farms and villages on its right. The 
first line of the right wing followed the course of a 
country road leading from the villages of La Haye and 
Papelotte to La Belle Alliance on the Charleroi road : 
the front of the left wing was in part along a lane which 
leaves the Charleroi road some 200 yards in rear of 
La Belle Alhance and follows the top of the heights as 



ance — almost the position from which 
Napoleon watched the battle. " On 
oui* front," he says, '' there was an 
immense elevated naked plain on 
which the English were encamped. 
Behind their lines at the top of the 
hill was the village of Mont St. 
Jean, and a league and a half still 
further away was a forest which 
bounded the horizon. . . . When we 
observed their line a little more 
closely — it was from 1,500 to 2,000 
yards from us — we could see the 
broad well-paved road which we had 
followed from Quatre Bras, and 
which led to Brussels, dividing their 
position nearly in the centre. Tt 
was straight, and we could follow it 
with the eye to the village of Mont 
St. Jean and beyond quite to the 
entrance of the Forest of Soignies. 
This we saw the English intended to 
hold to prevent us from going to 
Brussels. On looking carefully we 
could see that their line of battle 
was curved a little toward us at the 
wings, and that it followed a road 
which cut the route to Brussels like 
a cross. On the left [west] it was a 
deep cut, and on the right of the 



[Brussels] road it was bordered with 
thick hedges of holly and dwarf 
beech which are common in that 
country. Behind these were posted 
masses of redcoats who watched us 
from their trenches. In the front 
the slope was like a glacis. This 
was very dangerous. . . . We saw 
that the cavalry on the plateau in 
the vicinity of the main road, after 
having passed the hill, descended 
before going to Mont St. Jean, and 
we understood that there was a 
hollow between the position of the 
English and that village ; not very 
deep, as we could see the plumes of 
the soldiers as they passed through, 
but still deep enough to shelter heavy 
reserves from our bullets." The 
completeness of the shelter which 
Wellington's troops found on the 
reverse slope is illustrated by a sen- 
tence of Hooper's, when describing 
one of the attacks by the French : — 
" The front of the Allies' position, as 
seen from La Belle Alliance, pre- 
sented the strange spectacle of a line 
of batteries apparently unsupported 
by infantry or cavalry." 



1 82 QUATEE BRAS, LTGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Waterloo. tliGj curve foiward around the south and south-west 
The Battle- of Hougomout uutil it crosses the Nivelles road in a 
north-west direction and takes its way toward Braine-la- 
Leude. The French heights were loftier than those 
occupied by the Alhes, and afforded an admirable posi- 
tion throughout their whole extent for the abundant 
artillery upon which Napoleon counted so largely ; but 
they were without any such reverse slope as that which 
gave shelter to the second Hne of Wellington's army. 
The only remaining peculiarity connected with the 
French position which it is necessary to speak of here 
is a " hollow-way " ^^^ by which the winding road that 
marked the line of the French left wing entered the 
Charleroi-Brussels road in rear of La Belle Alliance : 
the high ground at this point of junction required 
the road to pass through a cut which formed an 
impassable gulf for cavalry approaching from the 
front. 

The valley between the Allied and French positions 
varied in width from 900 to 1500 yards, the distance 
from La Belle Alliance, measured along the Brussels 
road, to the " Wellington tree " in the Allied position 
opposite being 1400 yards. The causeway of the Char- 
leroi road formed the watershed east and west — the 
watercourses winding north-westwardly beyond Hougo- 
mont and then northwardly on the west of Merbe 
Braine into the river Senne, which flows through Brus- 
sels ; while on the east of the highroad the streams 

"1 The term " hollow- way " is hedges, houses, or embankments, 

employed by English writers on this It does not, at least necessarily, im- 

battle — by Scott, Siborne, Gleig, ply anything in the nature of a tunnel 

Kennedy, and the translator of or even of a depression below the 

Thiers, for example — to designate natural surface, but is applied with 

any means of passage, from a foot- a very perplexing latitude to any 

path to a boulevard, which is en- roadway having lateral barriers. It 

closed on the sides to a considerable is here adopted ofnecessity and under 

height, whether by walls, fences, protest, 



WATEELOO— THE BATTLEFIELD, 



183 



rising within the valley, as well as in the rear of the Waterloo. 
French heights and of the town of Planchenoit, take TheBattie- 
their course north-eastwardly into the Dyle and the 
Lasne, which unite under the former name and pass 
through Louvain. These streams indicate the direction 
and vanishing points of the valley — on the west it is 
lost in a cross-valley which begins in rear of the heights 
occupied by the French left wing, passes northwardly 
across the Mvelles road west of Hougomont, ends the 
Allied heights abruptly midway between Hougomont 
and Merbe Braine, and passes northwardly beyond 
Braine-la-Leude : to the eastward the valley winds on in 
the direction of Wavre, passing from the battlefield 
behind the villages of Papelotte, La Haye, Smohain, and 
Frischermont, where it is filled with woods, and then 
becomes the bed of the 
streams which obstructed 
the approach of the Prus- 
sians from Wavre. 

[The annexed diagram 
indicates approximately 
the principal features of 
the valley and its sur- 
roundings.] 

The valley descended 
from the positions of the 
opposite armies by slopes 
generally easy ; but its 

surface was more or less undulating, and, along what 
may be termed its longitudinal axis, rose into an elevation 
which crossed the Charleroi road midway between La 
Haye Sainte and La Belle Alliance. Through this elevation 
the road passed by a cut — " hollow-way " — with steep 
embankments on eitheir hand, and the obstruction thus 
offered to the movement of troops became of importance 




A A, Allied position. 
F F, Prenah position. 
OB, Charleroi-Brussels road. 
iVS, Nivelles-Brussels road. 

1, Hougomont, 

2, La Haye Sainte. 

3, Mont St. Jean, 

4, Eastern -villages— Papelotte, La Haye, 

Smoliain, and Prischermont. 

5, La BeUe Alliance, 

6, Planchenoit. 

P, Prussian approach from Wavre. 



184 QUATKE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

at several stages of the battle. This elevation — besides 
running longitudinally through the valley from Hougo- 
mont to within 700 yards of Papelotte — was cruciform, 
sending out lateral spurs, of which the southern reached 
La Belle Alliance, while the northern passed midway 
between Hougomont and La Haye Sainte, and joined 
the heights of the Allied position at the spot now occu- 
pied by the Belgian lion. Thus the arms of the cross, 
if the elevation may be so described, afforded a plane 
surface along which the French army might charge the 
Allied right-centre without descending into the valley, 
and the southern arm and also the eastern portion of 
the upright overlooked La Haye Sainte on its western 
and southern sides in such a manner that the French 
could advance their batteries within 250 yards of the 
farm and 600 yards of the Allied centre — that is, of the 
" Wellington tree," which stood at the south-western 
angle of the Charleroi and Wavre roads. ^^^ Except for 
this elevation, the valley was a rolling fertile plain in a 
high state of cultivation, with standing crops of grain, but 
clear of fences, hedges, ditches, or other obstructions to 
military movements, with the exception of the buildings 
and villages, with their enclosures, whose possession 
was to be struggled for. 

Of three of these posts within the valley — Hougo- 
mont, La Haye Sainte, and the eastern cluster of 
villages — the tenure of the first two was of vital im- 
portance, and the third quite essential, to the mainte- 
nance of the Allied position. Hougomont — closing in 

"^ The importance of this cen- vious maps goes far to account for 

tral cruciform elevation is dwelt upon the obscurity of the descriptions of 

by Kennedy, and it is shown in a the attacks on La Haye Sainte and 

rude map, taken from Sergeant- the French cavalry charges against 

Major Cotton's account of the battle, the Allied centre and right wing, 

which he embodies in his own Notes Brialmont's map indicates it, but less 

on Waterloo. Its absence from pre- distinctly than Kennedy's. 



WATERLOO— THE BATTLEFIELD. 



185 



The Battle- 
field. 




as it were the western entrance of the valley, and in Waterloo 
close proximity to the converging lines of the two 
armies — was a highly defensible position, and was held 
in force. Its entire enclosure formed an irregular quad- 
rangle, which may be called 1 700 feet square, and was 
bounded partly by more or less impervious hedges, 
backed by ditches, and partly by walls of stone and 
brick, as indicated in the diagram. The buildings were 
situated in the north- 
west angle, and were a 
farmer's house, looking 
north upon a spacious 
farm-yard, which was 
enclosed by barns, sta- 
bles, and other out- 
houses, with boundary 
walls filHng the inter- 
vals between them ; and 
on the south the cha- 
teau of Hougomont, 
which faced a court- 
yard, that was bounded 
in part by a chapel, 

the gardener's house, and stables, and otherwise by 
walls. The court-yard and farm-yard were connected by 
passages through the buildings and doors in the walls, 
and also by gateways into the hedged lane on the west 
which continued the avenue shaded by tall elm trees 
that led from the Nivelles-Brussels road. Adjoining the 
buildings on the east was a strongly walled garden, and 
on the north and east of this were apple-orchards en- 
closed by hedges, and on the northern (or Alhed) side 
by a double hedge forming a " hollow-way." Another 
" hollow-way " of a specially dangerous nature was 
formed between the southern wall of the garden and a 



Vo 



1, Farmyard. 

2, Farmer's house, etc. 

3, Chateau, etc. 

4, Courtyard. 



w 



O, Garden. 
0, 0, 0, Orchards. 
F, F, Fields. 
W, Woods. 



X X y. X X Trees. 

Hedges. 

WaUs. 



1 86 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

tall strong hedge 30 yards from it, — for the hedge con- 
cealed the wall from the French who charged it, ex- 
pecting to find no other obstacle, and came face to face 
with the insurmountable wall, loopholed for musketry. 
The barriers on the French side of the fields and wood 
were hedges, with ditches in their rear, impassable by 
cavalry or artillery or formed infantry. The quad- 
rangle enclosed by the outer hedges was about i "joo feet 
long on each side : the walled enclosure about the build- 
ings and courts, 280 feet from north to south and 
1 50 feet from east to west : the walled garden 600 feet 
long east and west, 300 feet north and south ; the 
avenue of trees about 700 feet long from the north- 
western gateway to the Nivelles road : the distance 
between the Hougomont enclosures and those of La Haye 
Sainte was 1000 yards. The site of the buildings was 
slightly elevated above the surface of the valley, and 
there was a gently sloping decline toward the Nivelles 
road and the Allied position ; at the eastern end of the 
orchard the ground was high, almost on a level with 
the front lines of the armies ; but on the French side it 
fell away rapidly into the valley.^^^=The next of the 

113 The hot fight of which it was point — explains that " For the anti- 

the scene, and the survival of its quarian Hougomont is Hugo-mons ; 

ruins as a memorial, have caused it was built by Hugo, Sire de Som- 

Hougomont to become one of the meril, the same who endowed the 

most notable features of the battle- sixth chapelry of the Abbey of 

field. The circumstance that the Villers." With his allusion to this 

French style it Goumont suggests spot — whose name he twice couples 

that the prefixed aspirated syllable with a rhyme of the school of Strat- 

may have been a legacy of its Eng- ford-atte-Bowe — Scott closes his 

lish defenders ; but Victor Hugo — Field of Waterloo : — 
who is likely to be informed on the 

" Farewell, sad Field, whose blighted face 
Wears desolation's withering trace ; 
Long shall my memory retain 
Thy shatter'd huts and trampled grain. 
With every mark of martial wrong, 
That scath thy towers, fair Hougomont ! 



WATEELOO— THE BATTLEFIELD. I 87 

Allied strongliolds was La Haye Sainte, a farm-house Waterloo, 
with outbuildings standincr in advance of the centre of TheBattie- 

° ^ field. 

Yet, thougli thy garden's green arcade 
The marksman's fatal post was made, 
Though on thy shatter'd beeches fell 
The blended rage of shot and shell, 
Though from thy blacken'd portals torn, 
Theh' fall thy blighted fruit trees mourn, 
Has not such havoc brought a name 
Immortal in the rolls of fame ? 
Yea — Agincourt may be forgot. 
And Cressy be an unknown spot. 

And Blenheim's name be new : 
But still in story and in song, 
For many an age, remember'd long. 
Shall live the towers of Hougomont 

And Field of Waterloo." 

Scott, in one of PauVs Letters, totally escaped. I imderstand the 

wi'itten at the time of his visit, says : gentleman to whom this ravaged 

" The grove of trees around Hougo- domain belongs is to receive fuU 

mont was shattered by grapeshot compensation from the government 

and musketry in a most extraordi- of the Netherlands." = Of Southey's 

nary manner. I counted the marks inordinately prolix tribute about one- 

upon one which had been struck in third of the stanzas may be quoted 

twenty different places, and I think for their realistic and guide-book 

there was scarce any one which had properties. 

" A goodly mansion this, with gardens fair, 

And ancient groves and fruitful orchard wide. 
Its dovecot and its decent house of prayer, 

Its ample stalls and garners well supplied, 
And spacious bartons clean, well-waU'd around. 
Where all the wealth of riu-al hfe was found. 

" That goodly mansion on the ground was laid. 

Save here and there a blacken'd, ruined wall. 
The woimded who were borne beneath its shade 

Had there been crush'd and buried by the fall ; 
And there they lie where they received their doom — 
Oh, let no hand disturb that honourable tomb ! 

*' Contiguous to this wreck, the little fane, 

For worship hallow'd, still for worship stands. 
Save that its Crucifix displays too plain 
The marks of outrage from irreverent hands. 



1 88 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Waterloo. tliG position. The dwelling, a strongly constructed brick 
The Battle- housc, stood UDon tlic wcstem side of the Charleroi 

field. ' ^ 

Alas! to think such irreligious deed 

Of wrong from British soldiers should proceed ! 

" Toward the grove, the wall with musket-holes 
Is pierced : our soldiers here their station held 
Against the foe, and many were the souls 

There from their fleshly tenements expell'd. 
Six hundred Frenchmen have heen burnt close by, 
And underneath one mound their bones and ashes lie. 

" Now, Hougomont, farewell to thy domain ! 

Might I dispose of thee, no woodman's hand 
Should e'er thy venerable groves profane ; 

Untouch'd and like a temple should they stand, 
And, consecrate by general feeling, wave 
Their branches o'er the ground where sleep the brave. 

" Thy ruins, as they fell, should aye remain — 
What monument so fit for those below ? 

Thy garden through whole ages should retain 
The form and fashion which it weareth now. 

That future pilgrims here might all things see 

Such as they were at this great victory." 

That Southey's sentiment, that tor is most naturally and strongly 

Hougomont should be allowed to arrested by the chapel, which, al- 

remain as the battle left it, has been though it immediately adjoined the 

shared by others appears from an burning chateau, survives the wreck 

illustration in Appleton's Picturesque around it, and inclines him to listen 

Europe (Vol. III., page 333), show- without a sneer to the guide when, 

ing the courtyard, ruins of the cha- pointing to the scorched feet of the 

teau, and the gardener's house as they wooden figure of the Saviour of 

stand to-day. = Siborne, writing of mankind in the interior over the 

them about 1844, said, " The barn in entrance, he ascribes the preservation 

the courtyard has indeed been again of the sanctuary to the miraculous 

roofed, and the gardener's house is interposition of Providence. A sanc- 

now occupied by the farmer ; but the tuary indeed it proved to such of 

chateau itself and the buildings sur- the wounded as took refuge within 

rounding the old farm-yard present its walls, who were thus spared from 

to the eye nothing more than crum- the agonizing death that befell their 

bling walls, scattered stones, bricks, suffering comrades in the other build- 

and rubbish. A portion of the tower, ings, which became a prey to the 

with its winding staircase, still ex- devouring flames, and from which it 

ists. But the attention of the visi- was impossible, under the circum- 



tS^ATEELOO— THE BATTLEFIELD. 



189 




road at the foot of the heights forming the Allied Waterloo, 
position, and 750 feet in advance of the "Wellington xheBattie- 
tree." The house itself formed the north side of a 
square, stables the western side, and a barn the south- 
ern, while a brick wall along the roadside completed 
the sohdly bounded enclosure. The interior of the yard 
was 120 feet from north to south, 135 
feet from east to west. On the north 
of the house was a garden, enclosed 
on the side toward the road by a wall 
in prolongation of the eastern end of 
the house, and on the northern (or 
AlUed) and western sides by a stout 
hedge, — the garden being in area about 
200 feet square. South of the farm- 
yard and barn, and running down into 
the valley for a length of 700 feet, was 
an orchard about 230 feet in width, 
which was sej)arated from the Charleroi 
road and bounded on the south and 
west by hedges, the long sides of 
which connected with the farm-yard 
wall. Though much inferior to Hougo- 
mont in size and capability for defence, the buildings 
and quadrangle of La Haye Sainte constituted a redoubt 
which its defenders would probably have held securely, 
but for the heedlessness of the soldiery and official 
negligence. A door and a large gate opened from the 
yard upon the highroad ; there were doorways from 



1, Farm-house. 

2, Stable. 

3, Bam. 
G, Garden. 
0, Orchard. 



Walls. 



stances of the moment, to extricate 
but a small proportion. In tlie 
great garden it is not easy to trace 
its original design. . . . The wood 
has altogether vanished. . . . This 
constitutes the only material devia- 
tion ; the orcliarus and remaining 



enclosures continue unaltered and re- 
tain the self-same aspect." = Victor 
Hugo's visit -w&s, in 1861, and his 
description of it in Les Miserahles is 
of the kind which young ladies call 
" weird " ; hut it is too long for 
transcription. 



I90 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Waterloo, the bam and stables to the fields on the west ; and a 
The Battle- door on the northern side of the house led into the 
garden ; but there was no outlet from the garden in the 
direction of the Alhed position. On the night before 
the battle the men on arriving broke up the great barn- 
door for fire-wood ; and, as the carpenters were ordered 
off, with their tools, to Hougomont, there was no means 
of replacing it, while the mule that carried the trench- 
ing tools had been allowed to stray away, and not so 
much as a hatchet was forthcoming. Thus the little 
garrison found itself insecurely fenced on the side of 
the enemy, and with no direct means of access from its 
own army. On the opposite side of the Charleroi road 
from La Haye Sainte, and about midway between it and 
the Allied heights, was a sand-pit capable of contain- 
* ing some 150 riflemen, and which was concealed from 
distant observation by the tall grain around it. From 
the south-western angle of the farm buildings to the 
north-eastern angle of the Hougomont enclosure, also 
from the rear of the sand-pit eastwardly in front of the 
Allied heights and toward Papelotte, ran hedges that 
afforded considerable protection to the Allied lines — 
no doubt the " sacred hedge " that gave the farm its 
name. ^^*= The places at the eastern extremity of the 

^^* Southey's celebration of La Haye, wliicli is quite a different 
Haye Sainte — not, as lie calls it, La place — is as follows : — 

" When thou hast reach 'd La Haye, survey it well ; 

Here was the heat and centre of the strife ; 
This point must Britain hold wliate'er befell, 

And here both armies were profuse of life : 
Once it was lost, — and then a stander-by 
Belike had trembled for the victory. 

" La Haye, bear witness ! sacred is it hight, 
And sacred is it truly from that day ; 
For never braver blood was spent in fight 

Than Britain here hath mingled with the clay. 



WATERLOO— THE BATTLEFIELD. 191 

battlefield did not play any such part in the day's Waterloo, 
struggle as to require a detailed account of their physi- TheBattie- 
cal pecuharities. Papelotte and La Haye were farms, 
having strongly built residences and outbuildings, walled 
and hedged after the fashion of the country. Smohain 
was a small village, lying a little to their south-east, 
about the sources of a stream of the same name which 
ran into the Lasne. Their importance came only from 
their situation in advance of the extreme left wing of 
the Alhes, which was Avithout any other support, and 
was extended eastwardly in anticipation of the arrival 
of the Prussians in that direction. These advanced 
posts were occupied only by enough troops of not the 
best quality to withstand an attack until support could 
be sent them ; and they witnessed httle more than some 
desultory skirmishing until the coming up of the Prus- 
sians made the position of value to the French. Fri- 
schermont was the name of a village lower down the 
stream that rises in Smohain, and also of a chateau 
standing upon a wooded promontory that occupies the 
angle between that stream and the Lasne, so that it was 
in the line of an advance from the direction of Wavre 
upon Planchenoit. Both the village and the chateau 
were so far south as to be in prolongation of the French 

Set where thou wilt thy foot, thou scarce canst tread 
Here on a spot uuhallow'd by the dead. 



" Still eastward from this point thy way pursue. 

There grows a single hedge along the lane, — 
No other is there far or near in view : 

The raging enemy essay'd in vain 
To pass that line, — a braver foe withstood, 
And the whole ground was moisten'd with their blood." 

Southey says so much here of " Bri- fended it were Germans, and that 

tain's " connection with La Haye their gallantry was frustrated by 

Sainte that it becomes worth while the supercilious negligence of the 

to remark that the troops who de- British headquarters staff. 



192 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Waterloo, positioii, and were supposed to be held in observation 
The Battle- by tlie cavalrj on their right flank; but this was so 
neghgently done that Prussian patrols were able to 
penetrate thus far without molestation and survey the 
dispositions of troops in the valley beyond. ^^^ Innu- 
merable isolated houses and some villages dotted this 
extremity of the valley, but were of little account in 
the action. Planchenoit, in the right-rear of the French 
position and so close to the Charleroi road that its posses- 
sion by an enemy would cut off their retreat, is a village 
situated at the head of the ravine through which the 
Lasne flows. It was both diflicult of access, if the ravine 
was well held, and defensible in itself from the con- 
struction of its houses and walled gardens, and espe- 
cially of its churchyard, which was surrounded by a 
stone wall surmounting a steep embankment. It lay so 
low in the valley that, from the Allied position, only 
the church-spire could be discovered rising above the 
French heights in its front. ^^^ 

^^^ Southey contents himself with He has last been at La Haye Sainte, 
one stanza upon this part of the field. and " inclines " hither :— 

" Hence to the high-wall'd house of Papelot, 
The battle's boundary on the left, incline ; 

Here thou seest Frischermont not far remote, 
From whence, like ministers of wrath divine, 

The Prussians, issuing on the yielding foe. 

Consummated their great and total overthrow." 

^^^ The Erckmann-Ohatriau con- far as the eye could reach, and was 

script's observations upon the Eng- scattered over with little villages, 

lish position may be supplemented . . . We could even see the little 

by his general survey of the valley : village of St. Lambert, three leagues 

— " On the slope of the ravine on one distant on our right. . . . We took 

side, behind the hedges and poplars in all this grand region, covered with 

and other trees, some thatched roofs a magnificent crop just in flower, 

indicated a hamlet: this was Planche- at a glance. ... I could see [La 

noit. In the same direction, but Haye Sainte] plainly from where we 

much higher, and in the rear of the stood. It was a great square : the 

enemy's left, the plain extended as offices, the house, the stables, and 



WATERLOO— THE ARMIES. 



193 



The total strength of the three armies which par- Waterloo. 

ticipated in the Battle of Waterloo, at any time during The 

, 1 T [, ^^ Armies. 

the day was as loilows : — 



barns formed a triangle on the side 
toward the English, and on our side 
the other half was formed by a waU 
and sheds, with a court in the 
centre. ... It was built of brick 
and very solid. Of course the Eng- 
lish had filled it with troops, like a 
sort of demilune, but if we could 
take it we should be close to their 
centre and could throw our attacking 
columns upon them, without remain- 
ing long imder their fire. ... A 
little farther on, in fi'out of their 
right wing was another little farm- 
stead and grove. ... It was covered 
by an orchard surrounded by walls, 
and farther on was the wood. The 
fire from the windows swept the 
garden, and that from the garden 
covered the wood, and that from the 
wood the side-hill, and the enemy 
could beat a retreat from one to the 
other. , 



their left wing on the road leading 
to Wavre, about a hundred paces 
from the hill on our side, were the 
farms of Papelotte and La Haye, 
occupied by the Germans, and the 
little hamlets of Smohain, Olieval- 
de-Bois, and Jean-Loo. . . . Now 
you can all see the position of the 
English on our front, the road to 
Brussels which traversed it, the 
cross-road which covered it, the 
plateau in the rear where the reserves 
were, and the three farms, Hougo- 
mout, Haye Saiute, and Papelotte, 
in front, well garrisoned. You can 
all see that it would be very difficult 
to force." = Nothing connected with 
the battlefield of Waterloo seems to 
have impressed beholders more than 
its limited area. Southey, having 
noted the little distance from Mont 
St. Jean to La Belle AlUance, con- 
tinues — 



And lastly, in front of 

" Beyond these points the fight extended not — 
Small theatre for such a tragedy ! 
Its breadth scarce more from eastern Papelot 
To where the groves of Hougomont on high 
Rear in the west their venerable head. 
And cover with their shade the countless dead." 



Victor Hugo says on the same point : 
" Altogether, we will assert, there 
is more of a massaci'e than of a 
battle in Waterloo. Waterloo, of all 
pitched battles, is the one which had 
the smallest front for such a number 
of combatants. Napoleon's three- 
quarters of a league, Wellington's 
half a league, and 72,000 combatants 
on either side. From this density 
came the carnage. The following 
calculation has been made and pro- 



portion established ; — Loss of men at 
Austerlitz, French 14 per cent., Rus- 
sian 30 per cent., Austrian 44 per 
cent.; at Wagram, French 13 per 
cent., Austrian 14 per cent. ; at Mos- 
kow^a, French 37 per cent,, Russian 
44 per cent. ; at Bautzen, French 13 
per cent., Russian and Prussian 14 
per cent. ; at Waterloo, French 56 
per cent., AUies 31 per cent. : — total 
for Waterloo 41 per cent., or out of 
144,000 fighting men 60,000 killed." 







194 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 





Auglo-Allied I Prussians 

1 


Total Allied 


French 


Infantry .... 
Cavalry .... 
Artillery .... 


49,608 

12,408 

5,645 


41,283 
8,858 
1,803 


90,891 

21,266 

7,448 


41,950 

15,765 

7,232 


Total men 


67,661 


51,944 


119,605 


71,947 


Guns .... 


156 


104 


260 


246 



During the earlier hours of the battle the Anglo- 
Allied army was without support from the Prussians, 
and had to withstand the materially greater force of 
the French — greater by far in fighting capacity than in 
disparity of numbers. It was not until the day was 
well advanced that the Prussians came up in strength, 
and thus reversed the inequality. By successive arri- 
vals, they brought the following additions to the Allied 
strength : — 





Infantry 


Cavalry 


Artillery 


Total Men 


Guns 


Up to 4.30 P.M. part of Bii-\ 

low's (4th) corps . . 
Up to 6 P.M. remainder of 
Billow's (4th) corps . . 
/ part of Zie- 
ten's (1st) ■ 
Up to 7 P.M. J corps . . j 
part of 1 
Pirch's (2d) ' 
^ corps . . -' 

Total to 7 P.M. . . . 


12,043 
13,338 

2,582 
13,320 


2,720 

11,670 

4,468 


1,143 

274 
386 


15,906 
13,338 

4,526 
18,174 


64 

16 

24 


41,283 


8,858 


1,803 


51,944 


104 



On the side of the French, so soon as the approach 
of the Prussians was discovered (that is, about i o'clock) 
a detachment of cavalry was sent off to the menaced 
point, and these were presently followed by Lobau's 
entire infantry corps, and these again by the Young 
Guard ; so that not more than 56,000 of the French 
army were at any time in action against that com- 



WATERLOO— THE ARMIES. 



195 



mancled by Wellington. = The quality of the opposing Waterloo. 
armies ought to be taken into account, no less than The 
their numerical strength. The excellence of the French 
Grand Army, composed of veterans of many campaigns, 
following tried leaders, who in turn knew quite well 
what their soldiers could do, had been already demon- 
strated both at Quatre Bras and at Ligny."^ 



^^■^ Siborne, when reviewing the 
results at Quatre Bras, says, " The 
defeat sustained by the French was 
certainly not attributable in the 
slightest degree to any deficiency on 
their part of either bravery or disci- 
pline. Their deportment was that of 
truly gallant soldiers, and their 
attacks were all conducted with a 
chivalric impetuosity and an admir- 
ably sustained vigour, which could 
leave no doubt on the minds of their 
opponents as to the sincerity of their 
devotion to the cause of the Emperor." 
Sir Augustus Frazer, a witness of 
the action, wrote from Quatre Bras 
on the morning of June 17th: — 
'' The enemy's lancers and cuirassiers 
are the finest fellows I ever saw ; 
they made several bold charges, and 
repeatedly advanced in the very teeth 
of our infantry. They have severely 
paid for their spirit ; most of them 
are now lying before me. Had we 
but had a couple of brigades of 
British cavalry, we should have 
gained a decided advantage. We 
had but one Belgian regiment of 
hussars and some Brunswick hussars, 
and both felt their inferiority and 
made weak efforts against the 
enemy's cavalry, who, pressing them 
amongst our very infantry, made a 
mingled mass of the whole. I have 
never seen a hotter fire than at some 
times of yesterday, nor seen more of 
what is called a 7nelee of troops. . . . 



Our infantry behaved most admir- 
ably, setting good examples to our 
Belgian and German allies." Those 
who were wounded at Waterloo 
were thus described by Sir Charles 
Bell in a letter printed in Lockhart's 
Life of Scott : — " I have just re- 
turned from seeing the French 
wounded received in their hospital 
[at Brussels], and, could you see 
them laid out naked, or almost so — ■ 
100 in a row of low beds on the 
ground — though wounded,exhausted, 
beaten, you would still conclude with 
me that these were men capable of 
marching unopposed from the West 
of Europe to the East of Asia. 
Strong, thickset, hardy veterans, 
brave spirits and unsubdued, as they 
cast their wild glance upon you — 
their black eyes and brown cheeks 
finely contrasted with the fresh 
sheets — you would much admire 
their capacity of adaptation. ... It 
is a forced praise ; for from all I have 
seen and all I have heard of their 
fierceness, cruelty, and bloodthirsti- 
ness, I cannot convey to you my 
detestation of this race of trained 
banditti." = Thiers summarizes the 
sentiments of the opposmg armies 
at the opening of the battle as fol- 
lows : — " The English were calm, 
confident in their courage, their po- 
sition, their commander, and in the 
approaching Prussian reinforcement. 
The French — we mean the soldiers 



2 



196 



QUATBE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 



Waterloo. 



The 
Armies. 



The English portion of the AUied infantry which 
had fonglit at Qiiatre Bras had shown a firmness which 
was simply indomitable, and the cavalry rearguard 
during the retreat had manifested a resistless ardour that 
justified full confidence in their efiiciency. But even 
this brave infantry, which met charges with the steadi- 
ness of veterans, consisted mostly of second battalions 
that had never manoeuvred in presence of an enemy ; 
so that Wellington explicitly directed his generals on no 
account to follow up any success by advancing from 
their line, but to be content in every case with holding 
their position. The brilliant dash of the cavalry was in 
accordance with the besetting fault of rashness for which 
the British horsemen were noted. ^^^ Moreover, these 



and inferior officers — in tlie most 
exalted state of entliusiasm, thought 
neither of the Prussians nor of 
Grouchy, but only of the English 
that they saw arrayed before them ; 
and all they asked was to be allowed 
to attack the enemy, trusting for 
victory to themselves and the fertile 
genius of him who commanded them 
— a genius that had hitherto been 
equal to any emergency," 

"s In speaking of the headlong 
charge in which the British heavy 
brigades destroyed themselves at 
Waterloo, Gleig observes, "It is 
an old fubject of blame by conti- 
nental officers that English cavalry, 
if successful in a charge, never know 
where to stop. It is even asserted by 
Marshal Marmont, in his work on 
The Art of War, that so well Imown 
was this disposition to himself and 
others that they have repeatedly, by 
feigned retreats, drawn British 
squadrons into positions where a fire 
of musketry from some copse on the 
roadside has destroyed them." Simi- 
lar testimony is quoted by Captain 



F. L. Maitlaud, in his Narrative of 
the Surrender of Buonaparte and of 
his Residence on board IT. M.S. Bel- 
lerophon. In the course of a conver- 
sation among the officers who accom- 
panied Napoleon to England, " One 
of them said ' The [English] cavalry 
is superb.' I [Maitland] observed, 
' In England we have a higher opinion 
of our infantry.' ' You are right,' 
said he ; ' there is none such in the 
world ; there is no making an im- 
pression on them. You may as well 
attempt to charge through a wall, 
and their fire is tremendous.' An- 
other of them observed, ' A great 
fault in your cavalry is their not 
having their horses sufficiently under 
command. There must be something 
wrong in the bit, as on one or two 
occasions in a charge they could not 
stop their horses. Our troops opened 
to the right and left, let them pass 
through, and then closed their ranks 
again, when they were either killed or 
taken prisoners.' ' Wellington him- 
self said of the cavalry, " I considered 
our cavalry so inferior to that of the 



WATERLOO— THE ARINHES. 



197 



fine troops, with the equally good German veterans of the Waterloo. 
Penmsula, constituted little more than a third of Welhnsf- 



French, from want of order, although 
I consider one squadron a match for 
two French squadrons, that I should 
not have liked to see four British 
squadrons opposed to four French ; 
and as the numbers increased, and 
order, of course, became more neces- 
sary, I was more unwilling to risk 
our cavalry without a greater supe- 
riority of numbers." = Of the infantry, 
Baron Miiffling, writing chiefly with 
reference to his observatiou of the 
Waterloo army, says, " There is not, 
perhaps, in all Europe an army su- 
perior to the English in the actual 
field of battle. That is to say, an 
army in which military instruction 
is entirely directed to that point as 
its exclusive object. The English 
soldier is strongly formed and well 
fed, and natm'e has endowed him 
with much courage and intrepidity. 
He is accustomed to severe discipline, 
and is very well armed. The in- 
fantry oppose with confidence the 
attack of cavalry, and show more in- 
difffirence than any other European 
army when attacked in the flank or 
rear. . . . On the other hand, there 
are no troops in Europe less expe- 
rienced than the English in the light 
service and in skirmishes ; accord- 
ingly they do not practise that ser- 
vice themselves. The English army 
in Spain formed the standing force 
roimd which the Spanish and Portu- 
guese rallied. . . . Such an army 
as the English is most precious for 
those they may act with, as the 
most difficult task of the modern art 
of war is to form an army for pitched 
battles." Of their conduct in this 
battle Wellington wrote afterwards 
(July 2) to Lord Beresford, " I had 



The 
Armies. 



the infantry for some time m squares, 
and we had the French cavalry 
walking about us as if they had been 
our own. T never saw the British 
infantry behave so well." Similar 
terms were used by the Duke to Sir 
John Malcolm at Paris in July 
181 5, when, according to the Life 
and Correspondence of the latter, 
Wellington said, "People ask me 
for an account of the action. I tell 
them it was hard pounding on both 
sides, and we pounded the hardest. 
There was no manoeuvring. Buona- 
parte kept up his attacks, and I was 
glad to let it be decided by the troops. 
There are no men in Europe that can 
fight like my Spanish infantry ; none 
have been so tried. Besides," he 
added with enthusiasm, " my army 
and I know one another exactly. 
We have a mutual confidence, and 
are never disappointed.'' = These, it 
is to be observed, are the words 
of private communications, not of 
official dispatches. Referring to Wel- 
lington's official expressions, Ohes- 
ney remarks, "The brave infantry, 
whose constancy in battle helped to 
place him high on the roll of world- 
famous commanders, met with scanty 
praise from his lips, though their 
conduct won them tributes of admir- 
ation from foe and from ally." 
Kennedy — who himself devised the 
arrangement of the squares that 
repelled the French cavalry — says, 
"The surpassing and extraordinary 
tenacity of the British infantry was 
beyond all calculation, beyond all 
praise, and was the sheet-anchor by 
which the Duke was enabled to ride 
out the storm. Full scope was thus 
given for the cavalry and artillery to 



198 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



ton's army ; and the composition of the miscellaneous 
residue was most unsatisfactory. At Quatre Bras the 
Dutch-Belgian troops had shown that, either from dis- 
affection or from abject cowardice, they Avere worse 
than worthless ; and, beyond this most numerous con- 
tingent, there were many raw levies of whom little 
service could be expected. The different nationalities 
were represented in the Anglo- Allied army as follows : — 





Infantry 


Cavalry Artillery 


Total men 


Gruns 


British .... 
King's German Legion . 
Hanoverians . 
Brunswickers . 
Nassauers 
Dutcli-Belgians 

Total . 


15,181 
3,301 

10,258 
4,586 
2,880 

13,402 


5,843 

1,997 
495 
866 

3,205 


2,967 
526 
465 
510 

1,177 


23,991 
5,824 

11,220 
5,962 
2,880 

17,784 


78 
18 
12 
16 

32 


49,608 


12,408 5,645 ' 67,661 


156 



This entire force — with which Wellington had to make 
good his stand against Napoleon until Blllcher should 
come to his support — has been estimated as equivalent 
to about 40,000 British troops. ^^^ 



display tlaeir siu'passing gallantry and 
excellence. . . . The King's German 
Legion were also troops of very great 
excellence ; but the British and the 
King's German Legion troops, actu- 
ally in the action, were alarmingly 
few in number." 

1^^ Kennedy calls it equivalent 
to a British army of 41,000, calling 
the British and King's German 
Legion 30,000, and the remainder 
worth 11,000. "It may be said," 
he explains, " that this is a fanciful 
estimate ; but it is not really so. I 
deduct, first, the part of the Dutch- 
Belgians who did not fight at all; 



and I could form a fair estimate of 
the value of the others, as compared 
with British troops." Napoleon's 
often-quoted estimate was : " One 
Englishman could be counted as one 
Frenchman, and two Hollanders, 
Prussians, or men of the Confedera- 
tion, for one Frenchman." Welling- 
ton summarized the whole collection 
as " the worst army ever brought 
together ; " and he distributed them 
after the manner poetically indi- 
cated by Southey, who alludes to 
the fears entertained about them, by 
the British officers who had observed 
them, and continues — 



" Not so the leader, on whose equal mind 

Such interests hung on that momentous day ; 
So well had he his motley troops assigned 
That, where the vital points of action lay, 



WATERLOO— WELLINGTON'S POSITION. 1 99 

The Duke of Wellington's position extended along Waterloo. 
the Wavre road upon the northern range of heights Angio- 
about one niile to the east and an equal distance to the Position, 
west of the Charleroi road — a length which he had 
men enough to occupy strongly. ^^"^ [The order, strength, 

There h.ad lie placed those soldiers whom he knew 
No fears could quail, no dangers could subdue. 

" Now of the troops with whom he took the field, 

Some were of douhtfid faith, and others raw ; 
He stationed these where they might stand or yield : 

But where the stress of battle he foresaw, 
There were his links (his own strong words I speak) 
And rivets, which no human force could break. 

" O my brave countrymen, ye answer'd well 

To that heroic trust ! No less did ye, 
Whose worth your grateful country aye shall tell, 

True children of our sister Germany, 
Who, while she groan'd beneath the oppressor's chain, 
Eought for her freedom in the fields of Spain." 

The last reference, it may be ex- that the Dutch-Belgian troops could 
plained, is to the King's German not be depended upon ; proof enough 
Legion, who brought their high dis- exists that the people of those 
cipline from the Peninsular War. = countries are capable of the most 
As to the Belgians, they are not heroic and persevering exertions 
justly to be blamed for not fighting in when engaged in a cause that they 
this quarrel, if their refusal was on care to support ; but under the cir- 
the ground of resentment at the cumstances in which they were 
abominable political trafiic of which placed on this occasion, they were 
the Allies had made them the vie- without confidence, were not acting 
tims. They had abundant cause to in a cause which they cordially sup- 
detest the alliance and the alien ported, and showed that it was not 
government which it had put over one in which they wished to oppose 
them, and to abhor, above all others themselves seriously to French 
of the Allies, England, and Welling- troops." Charras enforces the same 
ton himself as the representative view much more strongly. 
Englishman. Most English writers ^^° " The non-military reader," 
onWaterloo have assumed their con- Kennedy explains, "should be in- 
duct to have been due to cowardice; formed, so as to be able to judge 
but Kennedy, who was on the ground, of the manner in which Wellington 
does not share this view. "It would and Napoleon occupied their respec- 
be an error," he says, " to suppose tive positions at Waterloo, that 3,000 
that it was from any want of courage infantry or 1,760 cavahy, drawn up 



200 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



and relative position of the different corps in the Allied 
and French armies are shown in the annexed diagram, 
as they stood at the commencement of the battle. Taken 
in connection with the map (p. 176), this will explain 
the subsequent movements.] ^^^ The extreme left of the 
AUied front was held by Vivian's hussar brigade, and 
was, in mihtary dialect, " in the air " — that is, protruded 
into the open country, without natural or artificial pro- 
graphs upon The Battlefield (pages 
1 72 et seq.), and in tlie text above. 
(2) TlieCharleroi and Nivelles roads, 



in a single rank, occupy one Eng- 
lish mile of front, that is, each in- 
fantry soldier occupies 21 inches of 
front, and each horse 36 inches of 
front; consequently, when British 
infantry occupy, in two lines, that 
is, in four ranks, a field of battle 
extending one mile in front, 11,200 
men are required, and a fourth part 
of the whole infantry, all the cavalry, 
and a part of the artillery should be 
in reserve, so that to occupy a posi- 
tion properly requires 20,000 troops 
for each mile of front. Now, sup- 
posing that Wellington's and Napo- 
leon's fronts of battle each extended 
over two miles and a half, they 
would require 50,000 men each to 
occupy the gromid as a field of battle, 
and this at once shows conclusively 
that each of these great commanders 
occupied his position very strongly." 
^'^^ Nothing on a smaller scale 
than the excellent large plans accom- 
panying Siborne's work can actually 
map the position of the troops, and 
to accomplish this Siborne has been 
obliged both to omit the topographi- 
cal features and to limit the area of 
the field shown to a very undesir- 
able extent. The diagram will set 
forth the position of the armies, with 
the following explanations: — (i) The 
first line of each army followed the 
cross-roads described in the para- 



shown as parallel in the diagram, 
in fact converged to a potot back of 
Mont St. Jean, so that the lines of 
troops were contracted within the 
angle, and followed an arc of a 
circle at the circumference, as if the 
diagram were folded like a fan, with 
those roads as its radial ribs. (3) The 
respective Allied and French troops 
actually faced one another severally, 
as shovsm in the diagram, except 
those on the west of the NiveUes 
road, as is explained in the text and 
in note 126, p. 204. (4) The letters 
suffixed to the names of the Allied 
commands signify : — E, British ; 
B, Brunswick; K, King's German 
Legion ; JE, Hanoverian ; N, Nassau ; 
DB, Dutch-Belgian. (5) The num- 
ber prefixed to these initials is that 
of the brigade in the service desig- 
nated. (6) The number affixed to 
the initial letter shows the strength 
of the particular body of troops, 
(7) The names of corps commanders 
are in CAPITALS, of division 
commanders in smaxl capitals, of 
(infantry) brigade commanders in 
ordinary type, of cavalry command- 
ers in «i(«?{cs. E.g. u^nan_„ gig^jfigg 
•^ 6 B— 1244 ° 

" Vivian's 6th British cavalry brigade, 
containing 1,244 men," 



.f 




Col 



Brunswick 

Cavalry and Infy. 

5452 



V^ J 









00 






Grant 
5 E-1162 



ArentssoMld 
7 K-622 



Bornherq 
3 E-1268 



Somer 
lE-ii 












bo N 
(U O 



Clinton— 2d Div. Cooke— ist Div. (Guards) 

Mitchell 
4 E-1726 



mont 



Alten — 3d Div. 




La Haye 
Salute 



P4 



REILLE— 2d Corps d'Armee 



Pirc Jerome 

2d Cav. Div.-i865 6tli Div.-6ooo 



FOY 

gtli Div.-6ooo 



Bachbl 
5th Div.-6 



P3 

o 
P5 



KELLERMANN—zd. Cav. Corps. 



Rflussel L'Heritier 

I2tli Cav. Div .-1 650 nth Cav. Div. 1650 



Guyot 
1st Cav. Div. — Guard 
2000 



6th Corps 



LOBAU J =^ 

.< 
DEOUC 





Fbiai 




81 




1 


MORAN 
81 

DUHESl 




81 







ITo face page 201. 



^— DB Div. 




For explanation of Diagram 
see note 121, p. 200. 



RIDGE 






a 7 



w 



p=i 



Cole Picton— 5ih Div, 

" ; Sand-pit Bylandt 

E-150 DB-3233 




Vandeleur 
4 E-1012 



Vivian 
6 E-1244 



Cole 



PiCTON 



ng 
.00 



Papelotte 



M 



Peeponchee, 
2cl DB Div. ( 
4300 



D'ERLON— ist Corps cVArmee 



La Haye 



I Smohain 



Frischermont I 



Dois^zelot 
3d Div. 5000 

La Belle 
Alliance 



Alix Marcognet 

1st Div.-5ooo 2d Div.-5ooo 



DUEUTTE 

4th Div.-5ooo 



Jaquinot 
1st Cay. Div.- 1 700 



MILHA UD—^ih. Cavalry Corps 



Delort 
14th Cav. Div.- 14 14 






Waiitier 
13th Cav. Div.-iJ 



^ p 



o 



Imperial Guard 

-Old Guard 
1IS.-4000 

I 
Middle Guard 
1IS.-4000 

I 
-Young Guard i 
1IS.-4000 

Bos some 



Lefebvre- Desiwiiettes 

2d Cav. Div. — Guard 

2000 




< 



WATF.RLOO— WELLINGTON'S POSITION. 201 

tection to its outer flank, for it is at this point that the Waterloo. 
AUied heio-hts widened out into the general plateau : but Angio- 

o D Jr ' Allied 

in its front, and screening it from the enemy, were the Position, 
advanced posts of Papelotte, La Haye, and Smohain. 
These were held by Perponcher's Dutch-Belgian divi- 
sion and some Nassau battalions, and, though unpro- 
tected by any works or particular natural advantages, 
could withstand an attack until assistance should ar- 
rive. •'^^''^ Next to Vivian, on his right, was Yandeleur's 
brigade of light dragoons ; and then began the infantry 
troops which made up the remainder of the Allied front 
line. The first were Von Vincke's 5th Hanoverian 
brigade of Picton's (5th) division. Next on its right 
was Best's 4th Hanoverian brigade of Cole's (6th) divi- 
sion, which was drawn up with its right flank resting 
upon a knoll that formed the most commanding point 
of ground on the Alhed left wing, overlooking the 
valley and furnishing a kind of natural field work in 
which to mount the artillery of the brigade. Here 
occurred a deviation from the formation of the rest of 
the line, for, on the slope in front of the Wavre road 
and in advance of the brigades on either hand, both 
of which it partly overlapped, Bylandt's Dutch-Belgian 
brigade was posted — " most unaccountably, as I con- 
ceive," says Kennedy, who holds that its proper place 
was in the general line and between the too-widely 
spaced brigades of Pack and Kempt. ^^^ These two 

122 li -pjjg Pi-ince [Bernhardl of ^~* These Dutcli-Belgians were 
Saxe- Weimar," says Charras, '^ oc- among the troops about which mis- 
cupied the Chateau of Frischermont givings were entertained, yet they 
with one battalion, Smohain, La were put forward under the direct 
Haye, and Papelotte with another, line of the French batteries, and at 
and held the rest of his brigade in the point where the enemy's first 
reserve. He had at command three onset might be expected. When 
guns, the remainder of a battery dis- they subsequently proceeded to jus- 
organised by our cavalry at Quatre tify the expectations that had been 
Bras." formed of them, it became necessary 



202 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



brigades, the remainder of Picton's division, carried on 
the line as far as the AUied centre at the Charleroi 
road, upon which, as originally formed, Kempt's brigade 
rested its right, a little in rear of the sand-pit opposite 
La Haye Sainte.-^^* This sand-pit was occupied by two 
companies of the 95th rifles from Kempt's brigade, 
while a third company held the knoll and hedge adjoin- 
ing it, and further strengthened their position by con- 
structing an abatis across the Charleroi road. La Haye 
Sainte, on the western side of the road, was occupied 
by Col. Baring with 400 men from the 2d light battahon 
of the King's German Legion. The importance of this 
post had been underestimated by the Duke of Welling- 
ton, and the necessary measures for its protection ne- 
glected by the officers of his staff; and, though its in- 
adequate garrison had worked hard since daybreak to 
put it in condition, it was not in a fit state for defence 
when attacked by the French. ^^^ Baring's battalion was 



to supply their defection by bringing 
up troops from the reserve to fill the 
position to which Bylandt ought ori- 
ginally to have been assigned. 

^-* In the diagram Lambert's 
(loth) brigade of Cole's (6th) divi- 
sion is shovs^n as intervening betvreen 
Kempt and the Charleroi road. 
Lambert was on his way, by a forced 
march, from Ghent at the time the 
position was formed, and only reached 
the field after the action had com- 
menced ; so that, in the first instance, 
his brigade was baited as a reserve 
behind Mont St."" Jean, but on the 
flight of the Dutch-Belgians he took 
the position indicated in the front 
line. 

125 u r^i^Q jjjQgf important mistake 
which the Duke of Wellington com- 
mitted as to the actual fighting of 
the Battle of Waterloo," Kennedy 



says in his general summary of the 
day, " was his overlooking the vast 
importance of retaining the posses- 
sion at any cost of the farm and en- 
closures of La Haye Sainte. This 
farm was at the very centre of his 
position, and was on the great 
chaussee by which the French army 
so easily approached the position. 
These cii'cumstances and Napoleon's 
known modes of attack indicated that 
the possession of this farm would be 
of the utmost value. Napoleon had 
from the first seen the vast import- 
ance of bis possessing himself of 
this part of Wellington's field of 
battle, as is proved by his massing 
so very large a force immediately 
opposite to it, and by his establish- 
ing a battery of 74 guns to bear upon 
it." The Duke in after days acknow- 
ledged his error in this respect, and 



WATERLOO— WELLINGTON'S POSITION. 203 

drawn from Ompteda's (2d) brigade of the King's Waterloo. 
German Legion, which stood in rear of La Have Sainte, Augio- 

o ' J ^ Allied 

upon the high ground at the north-western angle of the Position. 
Charleroi and Wavre roads. Ompteda's brigade, Kiel- 
mansegge's ist Hanoverian, and Sir Cohn Halkett's 5th 
British brigades constituted Count Alten's 3d division, 
which — with Kruse's Nassau brigade, drawn up in the 
interval between Kielmansegge and Halkett, and to 
their rear — made the first portion of the right wing of 
the Allied front line. The remainder of the Hne as far 
as the Nivelles road was formed by Maitland's ( i st) and 
Byng's (2d) brigades of Cooke's (ist) division of Guards. 
Of these, Byng's brigade stood upon the brow of the 
hill overlooking Hougomont, and acted as a reserve to 
the force holding the chateau and its enclosures, to 
which it had contributed 4 hght companies. The de- 
fenders of Hougomont, besides the Guards, were a bat- 
tahon of Nassau troops, a company of Hanoverian rifles, 
and 100 of Kielmansegge's Hanoverians. During the 
night the garden walls had been loopholed, and plat- 
forms and embankments erected behind them : the 
various entrances to the enclosures had been securely 
barricaded, except the gateway from the farm-yard to 
the avenue leading to the Nivelles road, which was kept 
open to afford communication with the Allied position. 

the mistake of diverting to Hougo- gested to them to place a British 

mont the workmen and tools that battalion in the biiildings in addition 

should have been employed all night to Baring's, I)ut the proposal was 

at La Haye Sainte. The garrison, negatived." = In curious accord with 

Kennedy adds, should have been Kennedy's then unpublished estimate 

1,000 instead of 400, and he con- of the proper garrison was Thiers' 

tinues: — ''The proposals for strength- assertion as of a fact: — "In the 

ening the place on the morning of centre, on the Brussels road, was 

the 1 8th were repudiated by the the farm of La Haye Sainte. . . . 

headquarters staff. When it was The defence of this place had been 

seen in the morning that a general entrusted by the Duke to 1,000 

action was inevitable, it was sug- men." 



204 QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Waterloo, Partly along this Hougomont avenue, and, crossing the 
Anglo- Mvelles road, along the cross-road to Braine-la-Leude — 
Position, that is, in advance of the general front line where it 
reached the Nivelles road, and down in the valley — was 
Mitchell's 4th British brigade, which belonged to Col- 
ville's 4th division, the two other brigades of which 
were at Hal. Mitchell's troops had protected their front 
by throwing an abatis across the Nivelles road, and 
they were supported by a squadron of the 15th British 
hussars. In the rear of Hougomont, to the right of 
the Nivelles road, the ridge of heights, which the Wavre 
road and Allied front line have hitherto followed, is 
abruptly terminated by the cross-valley that passes just 
west of Hougomont and runs northward to Merbe 
Braine ; so that these heights end in a plateau that 
looks westwardly over the cross-valley. This plateau 
forms what Kennedy terms " a sort of natural citadel 
of ground, on which Wellington could, and did, throw 
back his right, and which he most judiciously held as a 
security for his right or as a position for a reserve force 
of infantry, to be used as the circumstances of the 
battle might indicate." Upon this ground, with its 
front at a right angle with the remainder of the Allied 
line, was posted Clinton's 2d division, of which the left 
brigade (Du Plat's ist brigade of the King's German 
Legion) rested on the Nivelles road, adjoining Byng's 
Guards, while the right brigade (Hew Halkett's 3d 
Hanoverian) was near Merbe Braine, the interval be- 
tween these two being filled by the third brigade of 
the division, Adam's 3d British. ^^^ Thus, so long as 

1^^ Tlie diagram sliowing the Mont St. Jean. By the folding 

position of the armies, as was ex- operation suggested in that note, so 

plained in note 121, page 200, repre- as to make these two roads radial, 

sents the Charleroi and Nivelles roads but leaving Merhe Braine as it 

as parallel, whereas in fact they con- stands, Clinton's division would he 

verge at (the village, not farm, of) brought into its actual position — -that 



WATERLOO— WELLINGTON'S POSITION. 205 

the Guards should hold Hougomont, Wellington could Waterloo. 
draw up a strong hne of battle from that point to Angio- 
Merbe Braine ; while, if Napoleon did not attack the PosWon. 
right flank, Clinton's division was available as a reserve 
to the remainder of the right wing. The troops thus 
far enumerated constituted the entire Anglo-Allied front 
line, with its several advanced posts. = The second line 
consisted wholly of British and German cavalry, of 
which Grant's 5th, Dornberg's 3d, and Arentsschildt's 
7th brigades stood in rear of Cooke's and Alten's infan- 
try divisions. In the rear of the centre, and drawn up 
under the personal command of Lord Uxbridge, on 
either side of the Charleroi road, before Mont St. Jean, 
were the two brigades of heavy dragoons. Lord Edward 
Somerset's ist or Household brigade of Guards, and 
Sir William Ponsonby's 2d brigade — which was also 
known as the " Union Brigade," since the regiments 
composing it, the Eoyals, Scots Greys, and Lmiskillings, 
represented England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively. 
This second line stood upon the reverse slope of the 
heights or in the hollow in their rear, and were out of 
sight of the French and to a great extent out of reach 
of the direct line of their artillery. = In rear of the line 
of cavalry were, on the extreme right, the Brunswick 
corps, which had lost its leader, the Duke of Brunswick, 
at Quatre Bras, and was now commanded by Col. Olfer- 
mann : it consisted of both cavalry and infantry, and 
rested its right upon Merbe Braine, its left on the 
Nivelles road. On the left of the Mvelles road and in 
rear of Grant's cavalry were the Cumberland-Hanove- 
rian hussars. Also in reserve, in rear of Mont St. Jean 

of a right angle with Cooke's division mentioned above as commanding 

and the remainder of the Allied the 3d Hanoverian brigade, is to 

front line, and facing upon a line be distinguished from Gen. Sir Colin 

drawn from Hougomont to Merbe Halkett, who commanded the 5th 

Braine. = Col. Hew Halkett, who is British brigade of Alten's division. 



2o6 QtJATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

and out of sight of danger, was CoUaert's division of 
three brigades of Dutch-Belgian cavalry. With the 
reserve was at first included that brigade of Sir John 
Lambert's which early in the action passed into the 
front line between Kempt and the Charleroi road. 
Otherwise the left wing of the army had no reserve, 
unless the Prussians looked for from Ohain might be so 
regarded.^^'' = The artillery of the front line was posted — 
8 guns with Perponcher's Dutch-Belgian division, about 
the eastern advanced posts in the valley ; 6 guns with 
Vivian's hussar brigade ; 6 guns upon the command- 
ing height before Best's and Pack's brigades ; 6 guns 
with Kempt's brigade ; 1 2 guns with Alten's division ; 
1 2 with Cooke's ; and 1 2 with Clinton's. The troops of 
horse-artillery were divided among the cavalry ; and 
other batteries were at first in reserve, but were all 
brought forward during the course of the action and 
moved from point to point. By the same negligence 
and blundering which had left La Haye Sainte indefen- 
sible, the artillery was left unprotected, to encounter 
the full storm of fire from the greatly superior French 
batteries, and suffered terribly in consequence. ^^^ 

1" Hooper, accounting for Wei- any part of the line through the 

lington's holding all his reserves on his perfectly open slopes in rear of the 

right, after mentioning his apprehen- ridge. The ground on the right, 

sion that Napoleon might try to turn therefore, was a stronghold, covering 

his position by way of Hal, continues: two of the great roads to the Bel- 

— "He had another reason for placing gian capital. The importance which 

the bulk of his troops, horse and foot, Wellington attached to this flank 

on the west of the Charleroi road. may be estimated by the fact that it 

The sti-ongest part of the position ^as here he posted Lord Hill, his 

was the right. There stood Hougo- most trusted lieutenant. Moreover, 

mont ; on that side ran the NiveUes he expected the Prussians on the left." 

road ; there the troops were com- las Napoleon, not satisfied by his 

pletely concealed. . . . Moreover, night reconnoissances that Welling- 

by postiug his reserves on his right, ton had omitted to raise redoubts or 

he converted the position on that entrenchments, deferred issuing his 

side into a citadel, whence he could order of battle in the morning until 

send at pleasure reinforcements to he could assure himself on this point ; 



WATERLOO— WELLINGTON'S POSITION. 207 

Besides the troops thus arrayed on the actual field Waterloo. 
of battle, the Duke of Wellmgton had detached to Hal Angio- 
and Tubize, some nine miles distant on his right, the Posuion. 
corps of Prince Frederick of Orange and a British and 
a Hanoverian brigade from Sir Charles Colville's divi- 
sion — troops numbering in all some 18,000 men; — and, 
to keep up communication with them, he occupied 
Braine-la-Leude, three-quarters of a mile west of Merbe 
Braine, with Chasse's 3d division of Netherlands troops, 
6669 strong. For thus voluntarily reducing his Water- 
loo army to a numerical inferiority to that of Napoleon, 
the Duke has been more generally reprehended than 
for any other cu'cumstance relating to the battle ; and 
it has been considered inexphcable — " his only fault," 
according to Charras — that he did not bring up Col- 
ville's division as soon as the gravity of the action 
became manifest, and thus avert the very critical posi- 
tion in which his army was placed after the French 
carried La Haye Sainte, in consequence of its desti- 
tution of reserves. This is accounted for — as is also 
his selection of a position with the Forest of Soignies 
in his rear — by the course he intended to pursue in the 
event of his being forced to retreat. Wellington, in 
1 82 1, visited the battlefield with Gen. Ziegler, then com- 
mandant at Namur, and, illustrating his remarks by a 
pencil sketch, said, " The last hour of the battle was 

and it was not until Gen. Haxo liad own (the 2d) division at Waterloo, 

reconnoitred closely and reported as follows : " About 1 1 a.m. the 

that there were no field-works Light Brigade and German Legion 

that the Emperor dictated his were ordered to furnish working 

order. Among English writers parties to throw up breastworks to 

on the battle, it was reserved for cover our guns ; but when they ar- 

Col. Ohesney to show that this defi- rived the officer with the entrenching 

ciency did not arise from Welling- tools was not present, and before 

ton's oversight. He quotes from these works were begun the enemy 

some unpublished memoranda by Sir had commenced his attacks. So the 

H. Clinton upon the position of his guns had no cover." 



2o8 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



indeed a trying one to me. But I should not have re- 
treated on the wood of Soignies, as Napoleon supposed, 
thinking I should fall back on Brussels and the sea, but 
I should have taken the direction to my left, that is 
toward Wavre, which would have given me the sub- 
stantial advantage of drawing near the Prussian army." 
In this event, his right wing must have retired sepa- 
rately westward — that is, upon Hal, and probably under 
Lord Hill, — and would have united with the 18,000 men 
already in that quarter, while he joined Blllcher with 
the remainder of his army. Thus his obstinate tenure 
of Hal is explained, and the terrors of the defile through 
Soignies are dispelled. ^^^ 



129 ipjjj^g solution of a mucli-Texed 
question was reached by Chesney, 
and, if fully established, would end 
the tiresome disputation about Wel- 
lington's blunder in fearing an attack 
from the west, and his certain ruin 
if he had been driven into the wood. 
The Duke's adulators, on the one 
hand, have demonstrated that the 
wood was an excellent thing, pre- 
cisely the kind of stronghold he 
would desire ; and Napoleon's fol- 
lowers have caught iip his dicta, like 
Thiers, who derides " the chimerical 
danger of an attack from the direc- 
tion of the sea," declares it to be "a 
fear that never left his [Wellington's] 
mind, and which was quite unworthy 
of his military discernment," and 
dwells upon "the error committed 
in fighting in advance of the Forest 
of Soignies." = It is, however, to be 
added that Wellington's explanation 
to Gen. Ziegler, in 1821, that he 
purposed retreating eastwardly to- 
ward Bliicher, does not harmonize 
with his sayings to others in the 
year previous. Gen. Ziegler's story 
was brought to light in the course of 



the Continental criticisms evoked by 
Ohesney's Waterloo Lectm-es, and 
was first set forth in the third edi- 
tion of that work, published in 
1874. In 1875 appeared the Gre- 
ville Memoirs, the posthumous jour- 
nal of Charles 0. F. Greville, whose 
position as Clerk of the Council 
under George lY and William IV 
brought him into intimate relations 
with tlie Duke of Wellington. In 
that journal, under date of Wher- 
sted, Dec. 10, 1820, appears this 
entry : — " Yesterday we went to 
shoot at Sir Philip Brookes's. As 
we went in the carriage, the Duke 
talked a great deal about the Battle 
of Waterloo and diiFereut things re- 
lating to that campaign. He said 
that he had 50,000 men at Waterloo. 
He began the campaign with 85,000 
men, lost 5,000 on the i6th, and had 
a corps of 20,000 at Hal, under 
Prince Frederick. He said that it 
was remarkable that nobody who 
had ever spoken of these operations 
had ever made mention of that 
corps, and Bonaparte was certainly 
ignorant of it. In this corps were 



WATERLOO— NAPOLEON'S POSITION. 



209 



Napoleon's front line along the southern heights was Waterloo, 
slightly more extended than that of the Allies, his right French 

Position. 



the "best of the Dutch troops ; it had 
been placed there because the Duke 
expected the attack to be made on 
that side. He said that the French 
army was the best army that was 
ever seen, and that in the previous 
operations Bonaparte's march upon 
Belgium was the finest thing that 
ever was done — so rapid and so well 
combined. His object was to beat 
the armies in detail, and this object 
succeeded in so far that he attacked 
them separately ; but from the ex- 
traordinary celerity with which the 
Allied armies were got together, he 
was not able to realise the advan- 
tages he had promised himself. The 
Duke says that they certainly were 
not prepared for this attack, as 
the French had previously broken 
up the roads by which their army 
advanced : but as it was in summer 
this did not render them impassable. 
He says that Bonaparte beat the 
Prussians in the most extraordinary 
way, as the battle [of Ligny] was 
gained in less than five hours ; but 
that it would probably have been 
more complete if he had brought a 
greater number of troops into action, 
and not detached so large a body 
against the British corps. There 
were 40,000 men opposed to the 
Duke on the i6th, but he says that 
the attack was not so powerful as 
it ought to have been with such a 
force. The French had made a long 
march the day before the battle, and 
had driven in the Prussian posts in 
the evening. I asked him if he 
thought Bonaparte had committed 
any fault. He said he thought he 
had committed a fault in attacking 
him in the position of Waterloo ; 



that his object ought to have been 
to remove him as far as possible from 
the Prussian army, and that he 
ought, consequently, to have moved 
upon Hal, and to have attempted to 
penetrate by the same road by which 
the Duke had himself advanced. 
He had always calculated upon Bo- 
naparte's doing this, and for this 
purpose he had posted 20,000 men 
under Prince Frederick at Hal. He 
said that the position at Waterloo 
was uncommonly strong, but that 
the strength of it consisted alone in 
the two farms of Hougomont and La 
Haye Sainte, both of which were ad- 
mirably situated and adapted for de- 
fence. In Hougomont there were 
never more than from 300 to 500 
men, who were reinforced as it was 
necessary ; and although the French 
repeatedly attacked this point, and 
sometimes with not less than 20,000 
men, they never could even approach 
it. Had they obtained possession of 
it, they could not have maintained it, 
as it was open on the one side to the 
whole fire of the English lines, while 
it was sheltered on the side toward 
the French. The Duke said the 
farm of La Haye Sainte was still 
better than that of Hougomont, and 
that it never could have been taken 
if the officer who was commanding 
there had not neglected to make an 
aperture through which ammunition 
could be conveyed to his garrison." 
= Sir Walter Scott's PauTs Letters, 
though by no means historical au- 
thority as to the details of the battle, 
may be trusted for the actual con- 
versations which they quote, since 
they were written nearly at the time 
and place. According to these, Wei- 



2IO QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Waterloo. 



French 
Position. 



wing being about a mile and an eighth in length from 
Frischermont to La Belle Alliance, and the left a mile 
and a quarter from the Charleroi road to a point beyond 
the Mvelles road. No better description of the forma- 
tion of his army can be given than that which he him- 
self dictated at St. Helena : — 

" The army prepared for action, and marched forward in 
eleven columns. These eleven columns were designed — four 
to form the 1st line, four to form the 2d line, and three to 
form the 3d Ime. The four columns of the ist line were — 

" 1st. That on the left, comprising the cavalry of the 2d 
corps. 

" 2d. Three divisions of infantry, forming the 2d corps. 
" 3d. Four divisions of infantry, forming the I st corps. 
" 4th. The light cavalry of the i st corps. 

The four columns of the 2d line were — 

" 1st. That on the left, formed by Kellermann's cuirassiers. 

" 2d. Two divisions of infantry, from the 6th corps. 

" 3d. Two divisions of light cavalry : one from the 6th 
corps, commanded by Gen. Domont ; the other a detachment 
from the corps under Gen. Pajol, commanded by Gen. Subervie. 

" 4th. Milhaud's corps of cuirassiers. 

The three columns of the 3d line were — 

" 1st. That on the left, formed by the division of horse- 
grenadiers and dragoons of the Guard, under Gen. Guyot. 

" 2d. The three divisions of the Old, Middle, and Young 
Guard, under Lieut.-Gens. Friant, Morand, and Duhesme. 



lington, when asked what he should 
have done if the position had been 
carried, replied, " We had the wood 
behind us to retreat into ? " — " And 
if the wood also was forced ? " — " No, 
no ; they could never have so beaten 
us but that we could liave made 
good tlie wood against them." = 
All which goes to discountenance 
the theory of a projected retreat 
eastward, except as an aftertliought. 



possibly in 1821. = With Greville's 
version of the Duke's saying about 
La Haye Sainte should be coupled 
this from PauVs Letters. The absence 
of a back gate having been mentioned, 
" ' I ought to have thought of it,' 
said the Duke of WelHngton, ' but/ 
as he added, with a very unnecessary 
apology, 'my mind could not em- 
brace everything at once.' " 



WATERLOO— NAPOLEON'S POSITION. 21 I 

" 3d. The chasseurs a cheval and the lancers of the Gruard, Waterloo. 

under Lieut.-Gren. Lefebvre-Desnouettes. French" 

" The artillery marched on the flanks of the columns : the Position. 
parks and flying artillery formed the rear. 

" At 9 o'clock the heads of the four columns forming the 
I st line arrived at the spot where they were to deploy. At the 
same time were seen, at various distances, the seven other 
columns descending from the heights. They were in full 
march ; the trumpets and drums sounded over the field ; the 
music re-echoed airs which recalled to the soldiers the remem- 
brance of a hundred victories ; the earth seemed proud to bear 
so many brave men. The whole formed a magnificent spec- 
tacle, and must have struck the enemy with awe, who were so 
placed as to perceive every man, and to whom the army must 
have appeared double its real numbers. These eleven columns 
deployed not only without confusion, but with such accuracy 
that each man filled at once the place designed him by the 
commander-in-chief. Never had such masses moved with so - 
much facility. 

" The light cavalry of the 2d corps, which formed the first 
column on the left of the ist line, deployed in three ranks on 
either side of the road between Nivelles and Brussels, nearly as 
high as the outskirts of the park of Hougomont, commanding 
on the left all the plain, and having its main guards placed on 
Braine-la-Leude, its battery of light artillery on the road to 
Nivelles. The 2d corps, under Gren. Reille, occupied the space 
between the roads of Nivelles and Charleroi, covering an extent 
of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet. Prince Jerome's division was 
stationed on the left, near the road to Nivelles and the wood of 
Hougomont ; Glen. Foy held the centre ; and Gen. Bachelu the 
right, reaching as far as the road to Charleroi, near to the farm 
of La Belle Alliance. Each division of infantry deployed in 
two lines, with an interval of 1 80 feet between them, having 
its artillery in front and its parks in the rear near the road to 
Nivelles. The 3d column, formed by the 1st corps and com- 
manded by Count d'Erlon, had on its left La Belle Alliance, on 
the right of the road to Charleroi, and its right opposite the 
farm of La Haye, which was held by a strong detachment from 
the left wing of the enemy. Each division of its infantry 

p 2 



2 12 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Waterloo. 



French 
Position. 



deployed in two lines, its artillery being stationed in tlie inter- 
vals between the brigades. Its light cavalry, which formed 
the 4th column, deployed on its right in three lines, command- 
ing La Haye and Frischermont, and with its outposts over- 
looking Ohain to observe the flankers of the enemy ; and its 
light artillery was on the right. 

" The I st line was scarcely formed when the heads of the 
four columns of the 2d line arrived at the jpoint from which 
they were to deploy. Kellermann's cuirassiers established them- 
selves in two lines, with an interval of 180 feet between them, 
and at a distance of 600 feet from the second line of the 2d 
corps ; having on their left the road to Nivelles, and their right 
extending as far as the road to Charleroi. The whole space 
occupied by them was about 6,600 feet ; one of their batteries 
took up its position on the left, near the road to Nivelles, the 
other on the right, near the road to Charleroi. The 2d column, 
commanded by Lt.-Gen. Count de Lobau, placed itself 300 
feet behind the second line of the 2d corps ; it remained in 
column, compressed into two divisions, occupying a space of 
about 600 feet long and on the left of the road to Charleroi, 
with an interval of 60 feet between the two divisions, having 
its artillery on its left flank. The 3d column — that of its 
light cavalry commanded by Gren. Domont, and followed by the 
division under Gren. Subervie — disposed itself in close column 
of squadrons, having on its left the road to Charleroi, and 
opposite its infantry, from which it was separated only by that 
road : its light artillery was stationed on its right flank. The 
4th column — that of Milhaud's corps of cuirassiers — deployed 
in two lines, with an interval of 180 feet between them, and 
600 feet behind the second line of the i st corps ; having on 
its left the road to Charleroi and its right in the direction of 
Frischermont. This column occupied an extent of about 5,400 
feet ; its batteries were disposed in the centre and on the left 
near the road to Charleroi. 

" Before this second line was fully formed the heads of the 
three columns of the reserve arrived at their points of deployment. 
The heavy cavalry of the Gruard was stationed at a distance of 
600 feet behind Kellermann's cuirassiers. It deployed in two 
lines with an interval of 180 feet between them, having the road 



WATERLOO— NAPOLEONS POSITION. 213 

to Nivelles toward the left, the road to Charleroi on the right, Waterloo. 
with its artillery in the centre. The centre column — formed French" 
by the infantry of the Gruard — deployed in six lines of 4 bat- Position. 
talions each, with intervals of 60 feet between the ranks, on 
either side the road to Charleroi and somewhat in front of the 
farm of Kossome. The artillery batteries belonging to the 
different regiments were placed on the right and on the left ; 
the horse and foot artillery of the reserve being behind the 
ranks. The 3d column — formed by the chasseurs a cheval 
and the lancers of the Gruard — deployed in two lines, with an 
interval of 1 80 feet between them, and 600 feet behind JNiil- 
haud's cuirassiers, having on its left the road to Charleroi, its 
right extending toward Frischermont, and with the light artil- 
lery in the centre. 

" At half-past 10 o'clock, incredible though it may appear, 
the whole movement was completed, and all the troops were 
in their destined positions. The most profound silence per- 
vaded the whole battlefield. 

" The army was ranged in six lines, forming six double Ws. 
The 1st and 2d lines were formed of infantry, and flanked by 
light cavalry ; the 3d and 4th lines of cuirassiers ; the 5th 
and 6th lines of cavalry of the Gruard ; with six lines of 
infantry of the Gruard perpendicularly placed at the points of 
these six Ws ; and the 6th corps — compressed as a column — 
was placed perpendicularly to the lines occupied by the Gruard ; 
its infantry was on the left, and its cavalry on the right of the 
road. The roads to Charleroi and Nivelles were left free, as 
the means of communication by which the artillery of the 
reserve could reach with speed the various points of the 
line." 130 

^^° Napoleon's account of the army had somewhat the form of a 

formation of his army is singularly great fan gleaming, as the bayonets, 

clear and precise, with the exception sabres, and cuirasses of our men 

of the " six double Ws,'' which are flashed back the sunlight." The 

difficiolt to trace in plans of the battle sun, as abundant testimony proves, 

or hi the imagination, but possibly was hidden by clouds at this time ; 

appeared from some point from and, if it had been shining, it would 

which he regarded the army. Thiers have been upon the backs of the 

— who usually follows the St. Helena French troops. Thiers further im- 

writings — gives up the Ws, and is proves upon Napoleon by stating 

content to say that " the French that " in less than an hour all these 



214 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Waterloo. The sole line of retreat for the French was by the 

French Charleroi road, and throuo^h the narrow defile of 



Position. 



131 



Genappe. 



On the morning of the battle the chiefs of both armies 
were early astir. Napoleon — who, says Hooper, " could 
no longer, as in old times, sleep and wake at will " — had 
spent most of the night in the storm, exploring the field, 
watching that the English did not retreat, scanning the 
signs of the weather, and returning at intervals to the 
farm-house of Caillouto dry his clothes before the fire and 
dictate orders and dispatches. Wellington was dressed 
and at his desk, in Waterloo, at 2 o'clock in the morning, 
writing what might prove to be his last letters — letters 
to Sir Charles Stuart, the British minister at Brussels, 
desiring him to " keep the English quiet," to let them 
be prepared to move, but to avoid a panic ; to 
the Duke de Berri, recommending him to remove 
Louis XVIII and his court from Ghent to Antwerp, 
and explaining the precautions which had been taken 
for their protection ; to the governor of Antwerp, 
du-ecting him to " have the means of inundating the 
surrounding country ready ; " and orders concerning the 
disposition and removal of the reserve ammunition and 
the preparation of apartments in every house through- 
out the neighbouring country for the wounded. -^^^ The 

fine troops had taken their appointed Charras, " that Napoleon had two 

position," although Napoleon expli- roads by which to retreat — those of 

citly says that the movement began Nivelles and of Oharleroi. This is 

at 9 A.M. and was completed at an error ; for the retreat by Nivelles 

10.30 — another evidence that, when- would have given the army a direc- 

ever the great French historian's tion so divergent as to compromise 

statements with regard to time can Grouchy's detachment inordinately." 

be brought to a test, they prove to ^^^ One of the Duke's precautions 

be false (see notes 74, p. 129 ; 86, p. this morning was to cause the remo- 

146 ; and 93 p. 158). val from Brussels to Antwerp of his 

131 «jt jj^g })ggji said," observes niece, the latety-married wife of his 



WATERLOO— BEFORE THE BATTLE. 215 

Duke's disposition of liis troops had been made over wateriuo. 
night ; but, Avhile the cleaning of arms, the regimental J^me 18. 
inspections, and other preliminaries were going on, and 
his staff were seeing each brigade placed in its assigned 
position, he rode from point to point along his line, 
examining and modifying the arrangements. ^^^ Napo- 

seeretary, Lord Fitz Roy Somerset. which reference must again lie made 

The many similar removals which to Thackeray's Vanity Fail-. Scott's 

occui'red went far to promote that allusion to it in the Field of Waterloo 

panic which Wellington deprecated, is as follows : — 
and for the adequate delineation of 

" Fair Brussels ! then what thoughts were thine, 

T\Tieu ceaseless from the distant line 
Continued thunders came ! 

Each hurgher held his breath, to hear 

Those forerimners of havoc near,' 

Of rapine and of flame. 
What ghastly sights were thine to meet. 
When rolling through thy stately street, 
The wounded showed their mangled plight 
In token of the unfinished fight. 
And from each anguish-laden wain 
The blood-drops laid thy dust like rain ! 
How often in the distant drum 
Heard'st thou the fell invader come. 
While Ruin, shouting to his band. 
Shook high her torch and gory hand ! — 
Cheer thee, fair City ! From yon stand, 
Impatient, still his outstretch'd hand 

Points to his prej-- in vain, 
While maddening in his eager mood. 
And all unwont to be withstood, 
He fires the fight again." 

^^^ Of the condition of things in whole country was dark, silent, and 
the early morning Hooper gives this dreary. Between the two armies 
picture : — " The light of the sun was stood the watchful sentries and ve- 
obscured by a thick mass of clouds. dettes, crossing the little ridges in 
The woods were dripping with wet ; front of Mont. St. Jean. No other 
the heavy crops were made heavier sign of waking life was visible at 
by the moisture ; the ground was daybreak ; the Anglo- Allied army 
plashy and yielding, and in the still remained in comfortless slum- 
depths of the valleys were wide ber. Soon the men awoke, and the 
pools. The air was filled with mist, plateau was covered with a mov- 
and as far as the eye could see the ing mass. The soldiers looked ' cold 



2l6 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

leon's solicitude about the weather had been so far 
reheved that, about dawn, the rain had ceased, though 
heavy clouds continued to overspread the sky until 
sunset. His own early movements were thus described 
by himself at St. Helena : — " At 8 o'clock .... the 
Emperor's breakfast was served, at which several 
general officers were present : the Emperor said, ' The 
enemy's army is superior in numbers to ours by at least 
one-fourth ; nevertheless we have at least ninety chances 
in our favour, and not ten against us.' ' Without doubt,' 
replied Marshal Ney, who entered the tent at this mo- 
ment, ' if the Duke of Welhngton were simple enough to 
wait for your Majesty ; but I am come to announce that 
already his columns are in full retreat, and disappearing 
in the forest.' 'You are mistaken,' replied the Em- 
peror ; ' he is no longer in time ; he would expose him- 
self to certain destruction ; the dice have been thrown, 
and the chances are in our favour.' Some artillery 
officers who had been exploring the plain now an- 
nounced that the artillery could manoeuvre, though 
under some difficulties, which would be sensibly dimi- 
nished in an hour. The Emperor immediately mounted 
his horse, rode toward the riflemen stationed opposite 
La Haye Sainte, reconnoitred anew the enemy's line, and 
charged Gen. de Genie Haxo ^^^ — an officer in his confi- 

and blue, dirty and unsliaven.' They some iron-bound coast.' Seventy 

rose from the sleep of the short night thousand men were in confused ir- 

stifF and numbed, but, gradually regular motion over the plateau." 

shaking off the feeling of weariness, On the French side, meanwhile, 

they fell heartily to work, cooking Reille's corps were just coming up 

their breakfasts, cleaning their arms, from Genappe, which they had not 

feeding their horses, fetching wood, been able to pass the night before, 
water, and straw. ' The sound of ^^* The text preserves a felicity 

preparation,' says one [of Picton's of some early translator of the Me- 

oiEcers] who was present, ' reminded moires which has been generally 

me forcibly of the distant murmur of embodied in accounts of the battle, 

the waves of the sea beating against Haxo was General de Oenie — gene- 



WATEELOO— BEFORE THE BATTLE. 



217 



dence — to approach still nearer, and ascertain if any Waterloo 
redoubts or intrench ments had been raised. The Gene- June is.; 
ral speedily returned and reported that he could perceive 
no traces whatever of field-works. The Emperor re- 
flected a quarter of an hour/ and then dictated the 
order of the battle, which two generals wrote while 
seated on the ground. The aides-de-camp took the 
orders to the different corps d'armee, who were under 
arms, and fuU of imjDatience and ardour." ^^^ The orders 



ral of engineers ; and the statement 
of his rank has been perverted into a 
part of his name. 

^^^ This " impatience and ardour " 
are vouched for by Thiers, who de- 
scribes the troops as " exultant with 
joy and hope, notwithstanding the 
dreadful night they had passed, en- 
cumbered with mud, without fire, 
and almost without food, while the 
English army, having arrived some 
hours earlier than we, "and being 
abundantly supplied with provisions, 
suffered but very little. Our men," 
he continues, " had had time to pre- 
pare their soup in the morning, and 
were, besides, in a state of enthu- 
siasm that made them insensible to 
every physical suffering, to every 
physical danger." But the Erck- 
mann-Ohatrian conscript draws the 
picture as it was seen in the ranks : — 
" About 8 o'clock the wagons arrived 
with cartridges and hogsheads of 
brandy ; each soldier received a 
double ration ; with a crust of bread 
we might have done very well, but 
the bread was not there. You can 
imagine what sort of humour we 
were in. This was all we had that 
day. Immediately after the grand 
movement commenced. Regiments 
joined their brigades, brigades their 
divisions, and the divisions re-formed 



their corps. . . . Our battalion joined 
Donzelot's division : the others had 
only 8 battalions, but his had 9. . . . 
Several persons have related that we 
were jubilant and were all singing, 
but it is false. Marching all night 
without rations, sleeping in the water, 
forbidden to light a fire, when pre- 
paring for showers of grape and 
canister, all this took away any in- 
clination to sing We were glad to 
pull our shoes out of the holes in 
which they were buried at every 
step, and, chilled and drenched to 
our waists by the wet grain, the 
hardiest and most courageous among 
us wore a discontented air. It is true 
that the bauds played marches for 
their regiments, that the trumpets 
of the cavahy, the drums of the 
infantry, and the trombones mingled 
their tones and produced a terrible 
effect, as they do always. ... As 
for me, I never heard any one sing 
either at Leipzig or Waterloo." = 
The allusion to the rations of brandy 
at the outset of the preceding quota- 
tion is noteworthy. As long before 
as the German campaign of 1 8 1 3 the 
French practice in this respect had 
been pointed out by Ompteda (not 
the officer in the King's German 
Legion) in a letter to Baron Stein, 
which is printed in Prof. Seeley's 



2l8 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Waterloo. wGie Es already quoted in the description of the French 
June i8. position ; and the Grand Army at once began to move 
9-^0.30 jj^|-Q j^g lines — a movement which Kennedy, who 
watched it, says "was to those on the Alhed position 
who witnessed it highly interesting, and, as a sight, 
majestic and beautiful." This parade — as imposing as 
its designer's description shows that he meant it to be — 
was intended both to inspirit his own soldiers by the 
full disclosure of their strength, and to work upon the 
nerves of the unsound corps in the Allied army, some of 
which he had tampered with, but which Wellington had 
so distributed among more trustworthy troops as to frus- 
trate any attempt at defection to the enemy. Napoleon, 
however, has been censured for spending in idle display, 
as his critics term it, half of the day, when every hour 
was bringing nearer to Wellington the Prussian support 
on which he relied. But, besides that up to this time 
Napoleon clearly had no suspicion of Blucher's cross- 
march, he and his followers have claimed that it was 

Life of the Prussian statesman. He be a matter of course that Lamar- 

says : '' The French troops, consist- tine assumes that the rash, charges 

ing in great part of young soldiers, of the British heavy cavalry at 

fought in much the same way as the Waterloo were due to their having 

troops that were hastily raised in the been previously fired by drink. As 

first days of the Revolution. Now, a matter of fact, the rations of 

as then, brandy is served out to the brandy served out to the French bad 

soldiers, and particularly to the their i^quivalent in the Anglo-Allied 

cavalry, a little while before an at- army. The Earl of Albemarle gives 

tack is to take place, and the troops this bit of his experience : — '' Prior 

already understand it as the sign of to taking up our position for the 

an approaching engagement with the night [of June 17 J, the regiment filed 

enemy. Their first attack is then past a large tubful of gin. Every 

made with great impetuosity, but if officer and man was, in turn, pre- 

the first shock is firmly met confusion sented with a little tin pot full. No 

soon begins in the French ranks." fermented liquor that has since passed 

A verification of this was afforded my lips could vie with that delicious 

by the onset of drunken French Ian- schnap2)s. As soon as each man was 

cers from the street of Genappe on served the precious contents that 

the afternoon before (see text, page remained in the tub were tilted over 

135); and so much does it seem to on to the ground." 



WATERLOO— BEFOKE THE BATTLE, 



219 



necessary for him to delay the attack until the ground Waterloo, 
hardened sufficiently for the movement of his cavahy June is 
and artillery ; his apologists have further represented 
that he had no more ammunition than would suffice for 
eight hours of fighting ; and there can be httle doubt 
that his physical condition may have indisposed him, 
on this day as on the previous ones, to personal exer- 
tion. ^^^ At all events — having seen the movement of 
the troops begun, having shown himself to his sol- 
diers, and after sending to Grouchy an order directing 10 a.m. 
him to continue his march on Wavre ^^^ — the Emperor 



136 Di-ouot, chief of artillery of 
the Guard, afterwards took upon 
himself the blame for this delay. 
Thiers quotes this from some notes 
written by Ool. Combes-Brassard, 
Lobau's chief of staff, who says : — 
" One day he [Drouot] said to me, 
with the air of a man who wished 
to relieve an oppressed mind, 'The 
more I think of that battle the more 
I consider myself as one of the causes 
of its being lost.' ' You, General ! 
when did the generous devotion of a 
noble friendship for one's master go 
further than youi's ? ' 'I shall ex- 
plain, Colonel. . . . The Emperor,' 
he continued, ' was aware of the 
disposition of the enemy's forces at 
the break of day : his plan was de- 
cided on : he intended to commence 
the battle at 8 or 9 in the morning 
at the latest. I observed to him 
that the ground was so broken up 
by the rain that the movements of 
the artillery would be very slow, an 
inconvenience that would be done 
away with by a delay of two or 
three hoiu-s. The Emperor con- 
sented to make this fatal delay. Had 
he disregarded my advice, Welling- 
ton would have been attacked at 7, 
beaten at 10, the victory would have 



been completed at noon, and Bliicher, 
not arriving until 5, would have 
fallen into the hands of a victorious 
army. We did not commence the 
attack until noon, and left all the 
chance of success to the enemy.'" 
Apropos of Drouot's self-censure, 
Chesney observes, " Napoleon had 
also been bred an artilleryman, had 
served as an artUlery general, had 
made more use of guns under his 
own eye than any commander that 
ever lived. Moreover, he had in his 
hand what Drouot could not grasp, 
the strings of the strategic combina- 
tions of the whole theatre of war." 
= The story that Napoleon's ammu- 
nition had been so exhausted by 
Ligny and Quatre Bras that only 
eight hours' supply remained is to be 
found in Capt. J. W. Pringle's He- 
marks on the Cmrqmign of 181 5, 
which is included as an appendix in 
Scott's Life of Napoleon. = As to 
Napoleon's health, it Avill be referred 
to, in the words of those who at- 
tended him, in several of the follow- 
ing notes, which corroborate what 
has already been said upon the sub- 
ject in general terms. (See note, p. 

31.) 

^^^ See note 88, p. 149. 



2 20 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



sought rest before beginning the battle. " Napoleon," 
says Thiers, " who had passed the night wading through 
the mud while making his reconnoissances, and who had 
slept but three hours since he left Ligny at 5 o'clock on 
the morning of the previous day, now flung himself 
upon his camp-bed. His brother Jerome 'was with him 
at the time. ' It is 10 o'clock,' he said, ' and I will sleep 
until II. I shall certainly wake, but in any case rouse 
me yourself; for these,' he added, pointing to the 
oflicers, ' would not dare venture to disturb me.' Hav- 
ing said this, he laid his head upon his slight pillow and 
was soon sound asleep." ^^^=: It was during this interval 



128 This remark of Napoleon's to 
his brother exactly accords with the 
impossibility which Grouchy twice 
experienced of having Napoleon 
awakened at Fleurus to sanction the 
pursuit of the Prussians, on the 
night of June 1 6th and on the morn- 
ing of the 17th until 8 a.m. — not 
5 A.M., as Thiers again misstates the 
hour. (See note 63, page 115, and 
text, page 127.)= In direct conflict 
with Napoleon's own account of his 
morning hours, and with Thiers', is 
the story given by the Earl of Albe- 
marle in his Fifty Years of my Life, 
on the authority of Gudin, whose 
credibility Thiers has lauded in a 
note previously quoted (page 33), 
and whom on a later page he has 
described as accompanying the Em- 
peror on his midnight survey of the 
battlefield. Lord Albemarle says, 
" My son Lord Bury, who was in 
1870 the representative at Rouen of 
the Society for the Relief of the Sick 
and Wounded in the war then raging 
between France and Prussia, became 
acquainted there with Gen. Gudin, 
the commandant of the garrison. 
This officer, who was page d^honneur 



in waiting upon the first Napoleon at 
Waterloo, told Bury that the Empe- 
ror ordered his horses to be ready at 
7 in the morning. The order was 
obeyed, but time wore away, and the 
Emperor made no sign. At last the 
Grand Ecuyer came down to the as- 
sembled staif and told them that his 
Imperial Majesty was in his room, 
that he spoke to no one, that he was 
seated in a pondering attitude which 
forbade question or interruption. It 
Avas nearly noon when the Emperor 
descended the ladder that led to the 
sleeping-room, and rode away. — ' Do 
you know, mon General,' asked Bury, 
' why the Emperor was so dilatory ? 
He must have known — what all the 
world knows now — that minutes 
were of the highest importance to 
him on that day.' — ' Oertainement,' 
answered the General, ' tout le monde 
se le disait. II avait joue son coup 
et — il le savait perdu.' Gudin also 
told Bury that when Napoleon came 
down from his apartment to mount 
his horse, the equerry in waiting had 
stolen away to get some breakfast : 
the .duty therefore of assisting the 
Emperor to mount devolved upon 



WATERLOO— BEFORE THE BATTLE. 



221 



before the action began that a Prussian patrol notified 
tlie EngUsh cavalry pickets near Smohain that Blilow 
was approaching St. Lambert with his corps — the fact 
being that it was simply Billow's advanced guard which 
was thus prematurely announced, his main body having 
been seriously detained in its march. ^ Hence the Duke 
of Wellington looked for the arrival of the Prussians 
several hours before they could really appear.^^^= Napo- 
leon, waking at the hour he had named without being 
called, joined his officers and estabhshed himself on 



Waterloo. 
June i8. 



Gudin, wlio gave liim such a vigor- 
ous hoist under the elbow that his 
Majesty nearly rolled off on the 
other side. ' Petit imbecile,' ex- 
claimed Napoleon, 'va-t-en a tous 
les diables,' and rode off, leaving the 
unlucky page, overwhelmed with 
confusion, to mount and to ride 
sadly on in the rear. They had rid- 
den a few hundred yards when 
Gudin saw the staff open right and 
left, and the Emperor came riding 
back. ' Mon enfant,' said he, putting 
his hand kindly on the lad's shoulder, 
' quand vous aidez un homme de ma 
taille a monter, il faut le faire dou- 
cement.' — The recollection of the 
implied apology, and the kindness 
which induced one in Napoleon's po- 
sition to think at such a moment of 
a young man's feelings, brought tears 
into the old General's eyes as he told 
my son the story." = It is not wholly 
impossible that the scenes of Napo- 
leon's meeting his officers at break- 
fast, dictating the order of the army, 
etc., may have taken place without 
Gudin's knowledge, and that the 
delay the latter describes may have 
been during such a period of retire- 
ment as is described by Thiers. 

^^^ In reference to the delay in 
Billow's coming up, see text, page 



154 et 862-. = During this period of 
Napoleon's repose, Wellington con- 
tinued his survey of his own lines, of 
which Hooper gives this incident : — 
'' Feeling the fuU importance of the 
chateau of Hougomont and its en- 
closures, he rode thither, . . . ob- 
serving the dispositions of the French 
on that side. While here, accord- 
ing to an anecdote which Mr. Rogers 
has preserved, he remarked that the 
Nassau regiment was disposed to 
flinch from its forward position. 
'And when I remonstrated with 
them,' he continues, ' they said, in 
excuse, that the French were in such 
force near there. It was to no pur- 
pose that I pointed to our Guards on 
the right. It would not do ; and so 
bewildered were they, that they sent 
a few shots after me as I rode off. 
" And with these men," I said to the 
Corps Diplomatique, who were with 
me, ^' with these men I am to win 
the battle." They shrugged their 
shoulders.' Returning from Hougo- 
mont, the Duke rode along the 
whole line, followed by the diploma- 
tic gentlemen. Among the latter 
were Baron Vincent, Count Pozzo 
di Borgo, Gen. Alava, Baron Muffling, 
and Count Francisco de Sales." 



222 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Waterloo, the place of observation he had selected — a mound of 
June i8. earth near La Belle Alliance, where his maps were 
spread on a table, and his horses stood saddled near by. 
His plan of attack, as stated by Thiers, was " first to 
seize the three advanced posts — the chateau de Gou- 
mont [Hougomont] on the left, the Haye Sainte farm in 
the centre, and the Papelotte and La Haye farms on 
the right, — then to send his right wing supported by 
his entire reserve to attack the Enghsh left, weak both 
in position and numbers, force it on the centre, which 
occupied the Brussels road, take possession of this road, 
the only passage through the Forest of Soignies, and 
thus compel the British army to enter the wood, .... 
so cutting off the English from the Prussians who in all 
probability, if not certainly, were at Wavre." Napoleon 
11.30 A.M. gave the order, and a discharge of artillery began the 
battle.i^o 



^^^ One of the mucli-repeated 
traditions al)out the battle of Water- 
loo is that the hour of its commeuce- 
ment is involved in doubt, and, by 
way of proof, much has been said as 
to the hours at which persons at 
a distance did or did not hear the 
cannonade. The troops at Hal — 
only 8 miles off to the west — heard 
nothing of it all day, and remained 
ignorant that the battle had taken 
place until the next morning. 
Grouchy a,nd his officers heard it at 
Sart=les-Walhain — 13 miles off to the 
east — at 11.30 a.m. (see page 160, 
and note ^*, same page), for the 
question of time was at once dis- 
cussed by them with reference to 
their proposed cross-march. Ken- 
nedy, who was near La Haye Sainte, 
and closely observing what passed, 
wrote : " The first firing that took 
place at the battle of Waterloo was 
at half-past 1 1 o'clock a.m. ; the 



first cannon shot then fired marked 
exactly the commencement of this 
great contest" Sir John Sinclair, 
who visited the field soon after the 
campaign, and obtained from the 
actors in the battle materials for his 
paper on The Defence of Hougomont, 
says, "The action commenced at 35 
minutes past 11 o'clock, as appears 
from the information of an officer 
who looked at his watch (which he 
was satisfied was correct as to time) 
as soon as the first gun was fired." 
" Captain Diggle," in the story 
quoted by Hooper, "a cool old 
officer of the Peninsula, took out 
his watch, turned to his subaltern 
officer, Gawler, who was one of the 
same Peninsular mould, and (on 
hearing the first cannon-shot) quietly 
remarked, ^ There it goes.' The 
hands of the watch marked 20 
minutes past ii," Definite state- 
ments like these are sufficient to out- 



THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 



;23 



[^Note on the divisions of the Battle of Waterloo. — To 
understand this battle clearly, it must be premised that it 
consisted of five distinct phases, marked by as many attacks 



weigli the loose guesses as to the 
hour afterwards made by those who 
did not note it at the time, and thus 
occasioned a very improfitable con- 
troversy. Brialmont — ^who himself 
gives 11.30 as the hoiu' — has this 
summary of the opinions of others : — 
" Wellington and Gneisenau fix the 
commencement of the battle about 
10 ; Alava and Vaudoncourt at half- 
past 1 1 ; Napoleon and Drouot at 
12; and Marshal Ney and Colonel 
Heymes at i." As to Ney and 
Heymes, it will be seen that their 
share in the battle did commence 
about I — long after Hougomont was 
attacked. = With the cii'cumstance 
mentioned at the outset of this note 
— that the Waterloo cannonade was 
not heard at Hal, 8 miles to the 
west, but was heard at Sart-les- 
Walhain, 13 miles to the east — 
readers interested in acoustics will 
do well to combine the story told by 
Sir Edward Oust in his Annals of 
the Wars of the Nineteenth Century. 



After remarking that a salute in 
honour of the victory at Ligny was 
being fired by the Parisians at the 
Invalides when the cannonade was 
opening at Waterloo, he goes on to 
say : " The air must have been full 
of gunpowder on the morning of the 
celebrated 1 8th of June, . . . and to 
such a wondrous extent were the 
re-echoes carried this day, owing to 
some peculiarity of atmosphere, that 
the rector of Margate assured me the 
reverberation was heard on the Eng- 
lish coast near that watering-place." 
= Among the moralizings upon Wa- 
terloo at the time, much was said 
about its having been fought upon 
a Sunday — a sufficient cause, some 
declared it, for the defeat of the 
assailant. Macaulay, as an under- 
gi-aduate at Cambridge in 1820, 
treated the suggestion poetically. 
The subject for the Chancellor's 
Prize for that year was Waterloo, 
and he sent in a poem, of which 
these are the opening lines: — 



" It was the Sabbath morn. How calm and fair 
Is the blest dawning of the day of prayer ! 
Who hath not felt how fancy's mystic power 
With holier beauty decks that solemn hour ; 
A softer lustre m its sunshine sees, 
And hears a softer music in its breeze ? 
Who hath not dreamed that even the skylark's throat 
Hails that sweet morning with a gentler note ? 
Fair morn, how gaUy shone thy dawning smile 
On the green valleys of my native isle ! 
How gladly many a spire's resounding height 
With peals of transport hailed thy new-born light ! 
Ah ! little thought the peasant then, who blest 
The peaceful hour of consecrated rest, 
And heard the rustic temple's arch prolong 
The simple cadence of the hallowed song. 



2 24 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

made by Napoleon upon the Anglo- Allied army. These attacks 
were : — 

I. Reille's corps attacked Hougomont: began at 11.30 a.m., 
continued throughout tlie day. 

II. D'Erlon's corps attacked the Allied left and centre : 
began at 2.30 p.m., continued till 3.30 P.M. 

III. French cavalry attacked the Allied right : began at 4 
P.M., continued till 6 p.m. 

IV. Ney attacked the Allied centre, taking La Haye Sainte : 
began at 6 p.m., continued till 7.30 P.m. 

V. Last charge of the Imperial Gruard : began at 7.30. p.m. 
Kennedy's division of the battle in this manner rendered in- 
telligible, for the first time, the aggregation of separate con- 
flicts which previous narrators had left uncorrelated and 
therefore bewildering. His method is followed in the subse- 
quent pages.^*^ = The Prussian operations against the French 
right flank, though contemporaneous with the Anglo-Allied 
defence, were for a time wholly independent of it. They are 

That tlie same sun illumed a gory field, 
Where wilder song and sterner music pealed ; 
Where many a yell unholy rent the air, 
And many a hand was raised — but not in prayer." 

The poem did not take the prize, guage is used in describing the 
and Macaiday's biographer remarks action by saying that the battle was 
that the lines " were pretty and a great drama in five acts, with dis- 
simple enough to ruin his chance in tinct and well-defined intervals, 
an academical competition." The those intervals being marked simply 
poem to which the prize was given by the firing of the batteries, with- 
is quoted in full hereafter (page 444). out that fire being accompanied by 
^*i Kennedy's description of the any other action of the troops, 
portions of the battle above tabulated This isolation of the attacks . . . 
is as follows : — "The battle of Water- was a matter of the greatest import- 
loo had this distinctive character, ance as regarded the result of the 
that it was divided into five separate action ; and the five great acts — 
attacks ; four of which were isolated that is, the five great attacks made 
attacks, and one only, that is the by Napoleon — must be clearly classed 
last, was general on the whole Anglo- in the mind of the reader, and dis- 
AUied line : those five attacks were tinctly separated from each other : 
distinct, and clearly separated from their time of commencement, their 
each other by periods of suspension duration, and their comparative im- 
of any close attacks. In fact, it can portance must be marked and re- 
scarcely be said that figurative Ian- membered." 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FIRST ATTACK. 225 

detailed in their proper order ehronologically, and are distin- 
guished by a typographical indication from the main battle.] 

The French opened the battle with the fire of Battle of 
120 cannon, drawn up principally in front of their l^^- 
right wing and centre, and so directed as to converge 1^.30 a.m. 
upon the Allied centre and left, where the principal 
attack was to be delivered. But a preliminary attack 
was to be made from the French left upon Hougomont ; 
and in this part of the field a portion of Eeille's bat- 
teries, with those of Fire's and Kellermann's horse- 
artillery — some 40 pieces — opened upon the Allied 
right wing and the wood and chateau of Hougomont. 
The Allied batteries along the front ridge were prompt 
in rejoining ; the intervals between the reports became 
less and less ; and, as the French columns began to 
move, the intervals disappeared, and the cannonade 
became a continuous roar. 



/. Attack upon Hougomont. i. 

Eeille's (2d) corps — composed of the divisions of 
Bachelu, Foy, and Prince Jerome ^'^''^ — was charged 
with the taking of Hougomont. Jerome moved first to 12 m. 
the attack, a column from the right of his division, pre- 
ceded by a swarm of skirmishers, advancing upon the 
south-western border of the wood. The Nassau bat- 
talion and Hanoverian riflemen who defended it opened 
a brisk fire upon them from the cover of the trees and 
the outer edge ; but the French threw themselves into 
the wood, and their leading brigade, Bauduin's, came 
up in such numbers as to possess themselves of a con- 
siderable portion of the wood, while other troops from 
Foy's division entered the fields on its right, and the 

^■*^ As at Quatre Bras, Guilleminot was the real commander of tlie 
division called Jerome's. 

Q 



2^6 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



assailants were rapidly making their way through the 
southern enclosures. At this moment the Duke of 
Wellington rode up to Major Bull's howitzer battery, 
stationed on the Allied ridge in rear of the Hougomont 
orchard, and gave orders to dislodge the enemy with 
shells. An effective fire from the battery checked their 
progress ; ^"^^ the light companies of the ist brigade of 
Guards advanced from the orchard into the fields, while 
on their right those of the 2d brio;ade came from the 
lane and courts of the chateau to the support of the 
Hanoverians and Nassauers in the wood ; and, after a 
sharp encounter, in which the French General Bauduin 
fell, the Guards and their allies regained both fields and 
wood. = Jerome then brought forward fresh columns to 
renew the attack, directing them against the western 
part of the wood, while troops from Foy's division were 
to move simultaneously against its southern front. The 
cannonade now became general on both sides — the 
Allies firing upon the advancing French columns, the 
French upon the Englisli batteries themselves. The 
Allied guns on the right were directed up the valley 
beyond Hougomont, against Jerome's troops as they 
approached the west of the wood ; and they were 



1*^ The narrative in the text fol- 
lows that of Sihorne : it is slightly 
varied by Sir Augustus Frazer, who 
tells that, on joining Wellington 
behind Hougomont, he perceived 
what progress the French were 
making in the wood, and sent for 
Bull's howitzer battery, reporting to 
the Duke that he had done so. " The 
howitzer troop came up," continues 
Frazer ; " and came up handsomely : 
their very appearance encouraged 
the remainder of the division of the 
Guards, then lying down to be shel- 
tered from the fire. The Duke said, 



* Colonel Frazer, you are going to 
do a delicate thing ; can you depend 
upon the force of your howitzers ? 
Part of the wood is held by our 
troops, part by the enemy/ and his 
Grace calmly explained what I 
already knew. I answered that I 
could perfectly depend upon the 
troop ; and, after speaking to Major 
Bull and all his officers, and seeing 
that they too perfectly understood 
their orders, the troop commenced 
its fire, and in less than ten minutes 
the enemy was driven from the 
wood." 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FIRST ATTACK. 227 

answered by Pire's horse-battery from the brow of the Battle of 
height where the Mvelles road intersects it. The ^-^° 
columns of Jerome and Foy meanwhile penetrated into "lllL: 
the wood, where they encountered a desperate resist- 
ance from the British Guards, who, though outnum- 
bered, retired only from tree to tree as they were suc- 
cessively dislodged, and now and then made a resolute 
stand. But the contest was unequal ; the number of 
the Guards rapidly diminished, as those of their assail- 
ants increased ; and they were compelled to withdraw 
from the wood — those of the ist regiment retiring into 
the orchard, while the men of the Coldstream and the 
3d regiments took shelter in the lane along the west of 
the chateau and behind a haystack at the south-west 
angle of the buildings. The pursuing French followed 
in several directions — (a) those on the right against the 
hedge that concealed the garden wall ; [b) others 
against the buildings and their courts ; while (c) those 
most to the left passed on beyond the western bound- 
ary of Hougomont and into its rear, (a) The right 
column. Soy's brigade, rushed at a charging pace upon 
what they took to be a simple hedge ; but their leaders 
had no sooner passed it than they encountered a deadly 
fire from the loopholed wall 30 yards distant, and those 
who followed only did so to perish before this impreg- 
nable stronghold which they had no means of escalading, 
and the most resolute could do no better than seek such 
cover as the apple trees and hedges afforded, and waste 
their bullets u]3on the impenetrable wall. From the 
rear the French could only see that their columns 
passed into the wood and did not return, so that their 
success was taken for granted, and new columns were 
sent forward in their support. Upon these and upon 
the troops already in the wood Bull's battery re-opened 
so tremendous a fire of shells that the French were 

a 2 



2 28 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

thrown into disorder, which was completed by the re- 
appearance of the Guards from the enclosures, who 
again possessed themselves for a time of the northern 
portion of the wood. But Bull's guns were now ex- 
posed not only to the fire of those opposite them, but 
were enfiladed by Pire's battery on the Nivelles road, and 
became unable to repress the French infantry supports 
which came up in great numbers to the relief of their 
comrades in the wood, and drove the Guards once 
more to their shelter on the flanks of the enclosures. 
(b) The French of Bauduin's brigade, who had moved 
against the buildings, dislodged that force of the 3d 
and Coldstream regiments which held the mouth of the 
lane, by setting fire to the haystack that gave them 
cover ; yet the Guards held their ground within the 
lane itself until they found themselves outflanked and in 
danger of being surrounded. They then withdrew 
rapidly into the farm-yard through the gateway that 
had been left open on the side of the Allied position, 
and had succeeded in closing the gate ' and partially 
barricading it with whatever heavy objects lay near at 
hand, when the French burst it open and rushed into 
the yard. The defenders poured in a fire from such 
cover as they could find, and then threw themselves 
upon the invaders in a hand-to-hand struggle. The 
English bore down their assailants ; some of their 
officers and a sergeant by personal strength closed the 
gate upon those who surged against it ; the intruders 
perished ; and the garrison exerted themselves to the ut- 
most to complete the barricade against the renewal of the 
attack. ^^^ They were still piling logs of timber behind 

'^^ The five intrepid men who Gooch and Hervey, and Sergeant, 

won great glory by closing the gate, Graham, all of the Coldstream 

and who all survived to enjoy their Guards. The sergeant distinguished 

honours, were Lieut.-Col. Macdon- himself further during this defence, 

nell, Capt. Wyndham, Ensigns as will be recorded in a subsequent 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FIRST ATTACK. 



229 



the gate when another attempt was made to drive it in : 
this proved ineffectual, and a grenadier had the 
temerity to chmb the wall to open it from the inside ; 
he was seen by Capt. Wyndham, who was holding 
Graham's musket while the sergeant brought timber : 
pointing him out, the captain gave the gun to Graham, 
who dropped his log, fired, and killed his man, who fell 
just as relief came from outside to end this attack, 
(c) The attacking column which had passed on the west 
of Hougomont crossed the avenue leading from it to 
the Mvelles road, and established themselves in some 
ground overgrown with brushwood between the avenue 
and the right of the Allied position. This 



June 18. 



note. = Thiers' account of the melee 
at the farm-yard is as follows : — 
" Col. Ouhieres, commanding- the 
1st light infantrv; and who had dis- 
tinguished himself two days hefore 
in the attack on the Wood of Bossu, 
had turned the buildings under a 
fearful fire from the plateau. Seeing 
a back door leading into the yard of 
the chateau, he was determined to 
force it. - Sub-Lieut. Legros, a brave 
man, formerly a sub-officer of engi- 
neers, and whom his comrades 
called V Enfonceur , seizing a hatchet, 
forced the door and entered the 
yard at the head of a few brave fel- 
lows. The post was ours, and we 
should have kept it, but that Lieut.- 
Ool. Macdonnell, dashing forward at 
the head of the English Guards, suc- 
ceeded in repelling our men and 
closing the door, and so saved the 
Chateau de Goumont. The brave 
Legros was left dead on the field. 
Col. Cubieres, who had been wound- 
ed ... at Quatre Bras, was at this 
moment struck by several shots, and 
fell under his horse ; he was about 
being killed by the English, but, 



brought 



touched by his valour and age, they 
spared his life and bore him bleeding 
from the field. The French were 
therefore compelled to return to 
the border of the wood without 
having conquered this fatal mass of 
buildings." = The importance which 
was attached to the holding of 
Hougomont is attested by this 
expression in Lord Dudley's Letters: 
— "This Belgian yeoman's garden 
wall was the safeguard of Europe, 
and the destiny of mankind perhaps 
turned upon the possession of his 
house." = As to the gateway which 
was so stubbornly struggled for, a 
view of it from the interior of the 
yard is given in vol. viii. of Charles 
Knight's Popular History of Eng- 
land, which shows very clearly how 
the deep, narroAv entrance might be 
held by a handful of valiant men 
against hundreds of assailants : there 
is also in the same chapter an illus- 
tration of the massive garden-wall. 
Except for these pictures, Knight's 
account of the battle is thoroughly 
inaccurate and valueless. 



230 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

them under the fire of Lieut. -Col. Smith's horse-battery, 
which had been pushed forward into the valley on the 
west of the Nivelles road, both to check the advance of 
the French infantry and to answer that battery of Fire's 
which had been directed against Bull's howitzers, and 
which Smith had succeeded in silencing. The French 
skirmishers crept up under cover of the underbrush and 
the tall grain, within short musket-shot of the flank of 
Smith's battery, and opened so destructive a fire against 
its horses and gunners that it was disabled for present 
use and obliged to withdraAv into a " hollow-way " in its 
rear in order to refit. But this success of the French 
was checked by four companies of the Coldstream 
Guards, under Lieut.-Col. Woodford, who advanced from 
the AlHed position and drove them back to the farm- 
yard wall, where they united with the party engaged in 
attacking the gate, and made a stand. Here Woodford 
charged them with his four companies in line, and dis- 
persed them ; he then entered the farm-yard with a 
portion of his reinforcement, while the remainder 
occupied the enclosures between Hougomont and the 
Mvelles road. = The French had now been foiled in 
all their attempts against the buildings and their walled 
enclosures ; but they were strong in numbers and 
resolute, and they made a push in still a new direction, 
further to their right, hoping to turn the stronghold on 
its eastern side. Forcing a gap through the hedge 
dividing the wood from the orchard, a column began 
to pour through the opening, when they were en- 
countered by Lord Saltoun with the light companies of 
the first brigade of Guards, who cleared the orchard 
after a sharp conflict. But the French now swarmed 
in the wood, and they mustered in overwhelming- 
numbers in this quarter. While some renewed the 
attack upon the orchard on its southern front, and 



June 1 8. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FIRST ATTACK. 23 1 

drove back Saltoun's Guards from tree to tree until Battle of 
they forced them to take refuge in the " hollow-way " in 
the rear of its northern hedge, another large body 
moved along the eastern hedge of the orchard, as if to 
gain its rear. These latter troops came directly under 
the observation of Alten's division, and its hght com- 
panies were about forming to attack them, when the 
Prince of Orange, who had just ridden forward to 
observe the French operations, stopped their advance, 
saying, " No, don't stir — the Duke is sure to see that 
movement, and will take some step to counteract it." 
Almost as he spoke, two companies of the 3d regiment 
of Guards left their position on the heights and moved 
down along the hedge to meet the enemy. As they 
came up on Saltoun's left, he also resumed the offensive 
and re-entered the orchard, and the two parties of 
Guards, charging in line on either side of the hedge, 
and seconded by the flank fire which swept the orchard 
from the eastern garden-wall, pushed back the assailants 
into the wood. The two reinforcing companies joined 
their comrades within the Hougomont enclosure ; and 
thus, at the close of what may be termed the first 
phase of the battle, the Enghsh remained masters of 
the buildings and courts, the garden, and the orchard, 
— the French having succeeded, after immense losses, 
in holding possession of the wood only. 

Eeille never intended persisting in the struggle for 
Hougomont at the cost of such murderous sacrifice 
of men as it involved. So Thiers says, adding, " He 
ordered that the desperate efforts made to take these 
buildings should cease, but did not look himself to 
the execution of his orders ; and the generals of the 
brigades and divisions, cari-ied away by their own 
ardour and that of their men, resolved to conquer both 
farm and chateau." The ruinous contest, accordingly. 



232 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



continued to rage tlioughout the day, most destructive 
but absolutely fruitless. ^^^ 



^'^^ Thiers, in summarizing the 
causes of the defeat, returns to the 
subject, as foUoAvs : — " The Chateau 
de Goumont on our left ought to 
have been attacked certainly, but it 
ought to have been beaten down by 
cannon, not attacked by men, an at- 
tempt which weakeJied the left wing 
of our army. These details were 
concealed from Napoleon by the 
wood of Goumont, and it was greatly 
to be regretted that Gen. Reille did 
not keep sufficiently near the scene 
of action to prevent this useless ex- 
penditure of human life. It is evi- 
dent that after the conquest of the 
wood the attack ought to have 
ceased, and Jerome's, Toy's, Ney's[?], 
and Baclielu's brave divisions re- 
served for the attack on the plateau 
of Mont St. Jean, the principal 
scene of operation." Charras says 
of the fight at Hougomont, " This 
attack was meant to engross the at- 
tention of the English general at 
this point, to disquiet him, and thus 
to favour the principal operation, 
which was to be directed against his 
left wing. This was a diversion ; 
but, to accomplish the desired effect, 
it was not indispensable that it 
should be pushed so far as the cap- 
ture of the position. . . . Command- 
ed, at a very short distance, by the 
crest of the plateau of Mont St. 
Jean, the chateau of Hougomont 
could not have been tenable by our 
troops if they had taken it. . . . 
Until 5 o'clock the entire corps of 
Reille continued piling itself up be- 
fore a position which was constantly 
defended by forces numerically infe- 
rior, in such sort that the diversion 
proved to be to the enemy's advan- 



tage, and infantry was lacking for 
the support of oar cavalry led by 
Ney upon the plateau. . , . The 
attack, moreover, was conducted 
with the strangest improvidence. . . 
It was only after three hours of 
fighting, after the useless sacrifice of 
a crowd of brave men, that any one 
took the trouble to concentrate the 
fire of a few howitzers upon its 
walls. . . . The walls [of the gar- 
den] might have been carried in 
good season, if any one had taken the 
common precaution of supplying the 
sappers of the engineer corps with a 
few petards and some sacks of pow- 
der." = Other French writers have 
affirmed that Napoleon was kept in 
ignorance of the walled garden, and 
deceived as to other physical features 
of the field. Victor Hugo's Water- 
loo passage contains a chapter 
entitled The Empero7' asks the Guide 
a Question, which describes Napoleon 
as studying the field, and continues, 
" He bent down and spoke in a low^ 
voice to the guide Lacoste. The 
guide shook his head with a probably 
perfidious negative." — This Lacoste 
— or De Coste or De Costar, for his 
name is given in many shapes — 
ought to be disposed of at the outset 
of the Waterloo narrative. He was 
a peasant, living in one of the houses 
near La Belle Alliance, who secreted 
himself during the battle, but after- 
wards bestowed hush-money upon 
his fellows in hiding, and evolved 
from his inner consciousness, for the 
delectation of tourists, an account of 
the events of the day, the foundation 
of which was that he never for a 
moment left the side of Napoleon. 
He became the favoui'ite guide of 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FIEST ATTACK. 



233 



June 18. 



The troo^DS of the French right wing had remained Battle of 
quiet during the period of this first attack, except that, 
soon after its commencement, a body of cavahy rode 
forward from the neighbourhood of Papelotte toward 
the commanding knoll on the heights of the Allied 
position, upon which the artillery of Best's Hanoverian 
brigade was drawn up. The knoll had the appear- 
ance, from the other side of the valley, of being an 
intrenched earthwork, and the reconnoissance was 
made to ascertain whether it was so ; but when Best 
formed his brigade into battahon squares and prepared 
to resist cavalry, the horsemen returned whence they 
came without attacking. Otherwise, the cavalry and 
infanty on the right were engaged in preparation for 



the earlier English tourists — of Scott, 
Southey, Byron, and hundreds of 
others, — through the medium of 
whose pens he became one of the 
most copious contributors to what 
Quinet afterwards entitled La Le- 
gendeNapoleonienne, — rivalling in the 
audacity of his inventions Thiers or 
even Napoleon himself. Scarcely 
any narrative of Waterloo is free 
from the figments of De Costar's 
fertile imagination : not only the 
earlier writers, Scott, Lockhart, 
Alison, and those of their time, 
quote him, but the carefully exact 
Siborne describes him as Napoleon's 
guide, and the sceptical Victor 
Hugo treats him as a historical per- 
sonage. The implicit confidence re- 
posed in him by Scott is especially 
touching. Describing in one of 
PauVs Letters his visit to Waterloo, 
he says, " Honest John de Coster, the 
Flemish peasant, whom Bonaparte 
has made immortal by pressing into his 
service [sec] as a guide, . . . repeated 
with great accuracy the same simple 



tale to all who desired to hear him." 
A few years after this Archbishop 
Whately wrote in his Historic Doubts 
relative to Napoleon Bonaparte (in 
1819), " Ibis same Lacoste has been 
suspected by others, besides me, of 
having never been near the great 
man, and having fabricated the whole 
story for the sake of making a gain 
of the credulity of travellers." Scott, 
however, remained true to his honest 
peasant as late as the publication of 
his Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, in 
1827, in which he appends to his 
narrative of Waterloo — a narrative 
just about as truthful as might con- 
sequently be expected — this foot- 
note : — " Our informer on these points 
was Lacoste, a Flemish peasant, who 
was compelled to act as Buonaparte's 
guide, remained with him during the 
whole action, and accompanied him 
to Charleroi. He seemed a shrewd, 
sensible man in his way, and told his 
story with the utmost simplicity." 
His " simplicity " resembled that of 
Lucv in The Bivals. 



June 18. 
I. 



234 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of the attack which they were to make upon the AUied 

Waterloo. , „ -, 

leit and centre. 

The Prussians during this time first showed them- 
selves far to the French right on the heights of St. 
The Prussian Lambcrt, aud arrested the dehvery of the 
approach. gecoud attack until Napoleon could assure 
himself whether the new-comer was Bllicher or 
Grouchy. ^•^^ He at once despatched Gen. Domont, 
with his own and Subervie's divisions of light cavalry, 
instructing him to ascertain and report immediately 
what these troops were, to expedite their march if they 
were friends, and to oppose it if they proved to be 
Prussians. The capture of a Prussian hussar bearing a 
dispatch from Bulow to Welhngton soon informed Na- 
poleon that the Prussian ist corps, 30,000 strong, and 
followed by the remainder of their army, were ap- 
proaching his right flank. He immediately communi- 
cated this alarming fact to Grouchy, in a postscript to 
orders already prepared,^*^ calling upon him for the 
support of his wing of the Grand Army ;• and he, some- 
what later, moved toward the menaced point the two 
remaining infantry divisions of Lobau's corps — Jeannin's 
and Simmer's, that of Teste being with Grouchy. This 
detachment deranged the formation of his army by sub- 
tracting more than 10,000 from his none too numerous 
reserve at the very outset of the action ; yet the manner in 
which the defensive measure was carried out rendered 
it wholly unequal to the emergency. Billow had yet 
to traverse the difficult defile of St. Lambert and the 
quagmires in the valley of the Lasne — obstacles 'which 
of themselves nearly arrested his advance, — and the 
determined opposition of even a few battalions at this 
point or in the Wood of Paris must have brought him 

"^ See text and note 91, pag-e ''*'' For the i p.m. order to Grouchy 

155- see note 88, page 150. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FIRST ATTACK. 



235 



Waterloo. 



June 18. 



to a stand and compelled him to retrace his steps and Battle of 
enter the field, as Zieten did, farther to the right, which 
would have afforded to Napoleon precious The Prussian 
hoars in which to deal with Wellington. But '^w^"'"^'- 
no such effort was made ; Domont's cavalry confined 
themselves to the plateau on which the French right 
wing rested, Napoleon hmiting his personal attention 
to the central battle ; Billow, and afterwards Pirch, 
were allowed to cross the swamps, take unmolested 
possession of the wood, and assemble there a force 
which proved too overwhelming for Lobau's corps, and 
ultimately for the Young Guard also, to bear back. 
Leaving thus to others the defence of the vitally impor- 
tant approach to his right flank. Napoleon turned to 
the grand attack by which he trusted to crush the 
Allied line.1^8 



148 a Napoleon did not feel uneasy 
yet," says Thiers, describing the 
apparition of the distant troops, 
when it was yet uncertain who they 
were. Soon this was found out, 
and Thiers then observes, " This was 
a se]'ious, but still not very alarming- 
piece of information." Grouchy, he 
proceeds, might be coming, as well 
as Billow, " so that this accident 
might still turn to our advantage." 
Grouchy, with Lobau and Domont, 
would be stronger than Billow. 
" There was, therefore, no cause for 
alarm. . . . Napoleon was not in the 
least anxious. His 68,000 men were 
about to be opposed to 105,000, in- 
stead of 68,000 ; the chances of suc- 
cess were indeed less, but still very 
great." Thiers assumes two things — 
(i) that Napoleon expected Grouchy 
shortly to arrive; (2) that he in- 
stantly sent Lobau to hold the 
Prussians in check until that arrival. 
As to the former, Napoleon, who 



had just sent an order to Grouchy, 
at Wavre, directing him to take that 
place, plainly expected nothing of the 
sort. As to the second, it is very 
uncertain at what time Lobau really 
did move to the right flank. In his 
statement about this, as about 
Grouchy, Thiers follows Napoleon's 
own assertion in his Memoires, that 
Lobau moved at once. Siborne, 
contradicting this, says, " This is 
decidedly incorrect. The advance 
of Lobau's corps to the right was 
distinctly observed from the extreme 
left of the Duke of Wellington's 
army, and from the Prussian side of 
the field, at a much later period of 
the day." Lobau's whole career had 
been so fully instinct with clear- 
sightedness, enterprise, and vigour 
as to make it incredible that he 
would have suffered the Prussians to 
occupy the Wood of Paris had he 
been on the spot with two divisions. 
Both these statements of the 



2.^6 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 

June i8. 

II. 



//. Attack upon the Allied Left and Centre. 

The grand movement, which was meant to be 
decisive, and which Ney had been busily preparing 
during the continuance of the struggle for Hougomont, 
was designed to overwhelm the Anglo- Allied left wing, 
break their centre at La Haye Sainte, seize that post, 
the eastern hamlets, the farm of Mont St, Jean, and 
with it the great road to Brussels, thus cutting off 
Wellington from that capital. There was now added 
the additional necessity of rolling u]3 the Alhed line 



Memoires are obviously afterthoughts. 
Tlie probabilities are that Napoleon, 
in the first place, felt confident of 
being able to crush Wellington be- 
fore the Prussians could come up in 
force, and that, next — as already in 
the attack on Hougomont and in 
sundry later passages of the day, — 
he allowed the battle to take care of 
itself, and left to liis generals details 
which in former days he would have 
seen to himself. His own condition 
at this time, there is every reason to 
believe, is not inaccurately described 
in this passage from Charras : " Na- 
poleon was ill. Suffering from two 
affections — one of which rendered 
all movement on horseback very 
painful — he remained on foot nearly 
all the day, seeing little for himself 
or seeing badly, and often judging 
of the progress of things from reports 
which more than once led him into 
error. He did not show the stoical 
energy of old Blucher, who, suf- 
fering also, spent twelve hours with- 
out dismounting from his horse. 
Had he been vigorous and active as 
formerly, he would have followed 
events closely, he would have pre- 
pared and executed better and more 



promptly this or that manoeuvre. 
That is certain. But what appears 
quite as certain is that, in the bad 
state of his health, he ivould not 
foresee the arrival of Billow, of Zie- 
ten, of Pirch I on the battlefield, 
where he had already before him 
an army numerically equal to his 
own. He was too thoroughly con- 
vinced of the rout of the Prussian 
army to admit the possibility of such 
a concentration of forces. Now, this 
concentration was the principal cause 
of the catastrophe ; for, spite of their 
gravity, nearly all the faults [of the 
day] would have been reparable if 
Bliicher had not supported Welling- 
ton." Oharras's generalization has 
iDeen more than corroborated by the 
subsequently published Memoires of 
Count S6gur, who says, " Turenne 
and Monthyon, general of division 
and sub-chief of the staff", have told 
me a hundi-ed times that during this 
battle, which was deciding his fate, 
he remained a long time seated be- 
fore a table placed upon this fatal 
field, and that they frequently saw 
his head, overcome by sleep, sink 
do\\Ti upon the map spread out be- 
fore his heavy eyes." 



June i8. 
II. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 237 

from its left, so as to sunder it from the threatened Battle of 
junction with the Prussians. The force allotted to this *^*^'"^°^- 
task included the entire infantry of D'Erlon's corps, a 
portion of the cavalry in his rear and that on his 
right, a division of Kellermann's cavalry from the left 
wing, and Bachelu's infantry division from that wing — in 
all some 20,000 or 25,000 men. This immense mass 
of troops was to be supported in its attack by the fire 
of 10 batteries — 3 of them of 12-pounders, the 4 foot- 
batteries belonging to D'Erlon's four divisions, and 3 
horse-batteries from the cavalry divisions — altogether 
74 guns. These were brought forward and estabhshed 
upon the central elevation in the valley, so that they 
were but 250 yards from La Haye Sainte and 600 from 
the " Wellington tree " at the junction of the Wavre and 
Charleroi roads, the centre of the Alhed position. In 
an evil hour, however, JSTey and D'Erlon had devised a 
new method of arranging infantry, designed to impart 
great solidity to columns of attack, but which, when 
actually apphed to the troops whom it befell to make 
the serious charges, was found to make them utterly 
unwieldy — helpless to manoeuvre and especially to 
resist cavalry. ^^^ This vicious formation went far to 

^^^ Thiers, describing this unfor- it impossible for them to form into 

tunate discovery of the generals, square to resist the cavalry. These 

says, " It was customary in the four divisions, formed into four dense 

French army for the attacking columns, advanced abreast at a dis- 

column to advance with a battalion tance of 300 feet from each other." 

deployed in front to fire on the enemy, This " 300 feet " is no doubt another 

and the battalions on each flank of the felicities of Thiers' English 

formed into serried columns in order translator : the distance between the 

to resist the charges of the cavalry. columns was, in fact, 300 paces. 

On this occasion, however, both Ney Brialmont — after remarking that 

and D'Erlon had drawn up the 8 " These columns were clearly too 

battalions of each division in file, deep for the pui'pose of attack, and 

ranging them with a space of five too close to be deployed " — says of 

paces between each line, so that there them in a note, "It is not quite 

was barely room for the officers be- clear what the groundwork of their 

tween the battalions, and rendering formation was. According to some, 



238 



QUATKE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



II. 



neutralize the great numerical superiority of D'Erlon's 
attacking columns over the infantry they were about to 
charge. This consisted — for it is not necessary to make 
any account of the Dutch-Belgians drawn up in advance 
of the Allied position — of Picton's division, troops of 
superb quality, but whom the wasting artillery fire 
and cavalry charges of Quatre Bras had left mere 
skeletons of regiments, numbering in all but 3671 men, 
drawn up in a two-deep line to encounter the shock of 
columnns 13,000 strong. ^^*^ The French troops, taken 



it was the battalion, according to 
others the company. Military writers 
are not more agreed respecting the 
manner in which the attack was 
made, nor even as to the number of 
columns. Col. Oharras professes to 
have been informed by an officer of 
rank in D'Erlon's corps that the 
battalions were deployed in columns 
at a distance of five paces one from 
the other : the space between one 
echelon and another was not more 
than 400 paces." Jomini, in his 
Summary of the Caynpaign of 1 815, 
after citing the contradictory state- 
ments of difierent authorities as to 
the formation of these columns, says, 
"It is impossible to make out any- 
thing from such a chaos." His com- 
ment is, " The French must be cen- 
sured for having attempted the first 
attack in masses too deep. This 
system was never successful against 
the murderous fire of English in- 
fantry and artillery. . . . Even sup- 
posing that this system be suitable 
on a dry and an open field, easy of 
access, and with equal artillery force, 
it is certain that infantry masses, 
hurled over muddy ground from 
which it is difficult to emerge, with 
an insufficient concurrence of other 
arms, attacking troops posted in ex- 
cellent positions, have many chances 



against them." The Erckmann- 
Ohatrian conscript, who marched in 
one of the columns, says of their 
formation, "We had not time to 
form in column, but we were solidly 
arrayed after all, one behind the 
other, from 150 to 200 men in line 
in front, the captains between the 
companies, and the commandants 
between the battalions. But the 
balls, instead of carrying ofii" two 
men at a time, would now take 
eight. Those in the rear could not 
fire because those in front were in 
the way, and we found, too, that 
we could not form in squares. That 
should have been thought of before- 
hand, but was overlooked in the 
desire to break the enemy's line and 
gain all at a blow." After describing 
what happened in consequence of this 
arrangement, the conscript concludes, 
" Those who have the direction of 
afiairs in war should keep such ex- 
amples as these before their eyes, and 
reflect that new plans cost those dear 
who are forced to try them." 

'^^^ Napoleon is said to have com- 
plimented the 5th British division by 
asking during the morning's recon- 
noissance, ' Oit est la division de Pic- 
ton ? " But the anecdote appears to 
bear the trade-mark of Lacoste, 



II. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 239 

ill their order from left to right were to share in the Battle of 
attack in this manner — {a) Eoussel's division of Keller- ^L!L!°' 
mann's cuirassiers to siij^port the infantry on its right 
and attack the troops about La Haye Sainte and the 
Allied centre beyond it ; (b) Bachelu's division of Eeille's 
corps to occupy the central elevation in the valley, 
protecting the batteries mounted thereon, holding the 
Charleroi road, supporting the attack upon La Haye 
Sainte, and connecting D'Erlon's corps with Eeille's ; 
(c) the left brigade of Donzelot's division to cross to the 
western side of the Charleroi road (into the front of 
Bachelu's division) and take La Haye Sainte ; [d, e,f) 
the right brigade of Donzelot's division and the entire 
divisions of Alix ^^^ and Marcognet to crush the infantry 
of the Allied left wing, take Mont St. Jean, and hold 
the Brussels road ; (g) the left brigade of Durutte's 
division to support Marcognet and preserve the 
connection with {h) Durutte's right brigade, which 
was to take Papelotte, La Haye, and Smohain ; and 
finally, of the cavalry of the right wing, Jaquinot's 
hght horse on the right flank and Milhaud's cuirassiers 
in the second line were to support the infantry as 
occasion might require. The relative positions of the 
troops of both armies, as they actually encountered one 
another, may be best understood from a diagram. ^^^ 

^^^ Alix's division was commanded the interval between Kempt's and 

on this day by Quiot. Pack's brigades and fell upon the 

'^'- The diagram, of course, is left and right brigades of Alix re- 

mtliout value topographically, fur- spectively, while the Scots Greys 

ther than that the landmarks indi- passed through Pack's brigade and 

cated in it connect the positions of charged the left brigade of Marco- 

the troops with the map on page gnet. Reference to this diagram will 

176. It does, however, show the re- spare the need of whole pages of 

lative order of the troops at the time verbal description such as obscures 

of thfeir coming in conflict — e.(/. of Siborne's account of the fight. Lam- 

Ponsonby's Union Brigade of ca- bert's brigade does not appear here, 

valry, the Royals and Inniskillings because it had not come into position 

from the 2d line charged through at this period of the battle. Bylandt's 



240 QUATRE BRAS, LTGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



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II. 

1.30 P.M. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 241 

The attack liacl been lons^ delayed by the apparition Battle of 

n 1 -r^ • • 1 Ti 1- -r-i Waterloo. 

or the rrussians m the east and the direction 01 tlie 

measures to oppose them ; ^^^ but, these completed, 
Napoleon ordered the advance. The great battery on 
the central height directed a most destructive fire upon 
the whole Allied centre, but especially against Picton's 
division, which crowned the northern heights, and that 
brigade of Dutch-Belgians posted in advance of the 
general line and in front of Pack's brigade. -^^"^ Under 
cover of this cannonade, the infantry of D'Erlon's entire 
corps moved forward in columns, and from the head of 
each column the light troops detached themselves and 
spread out into a loose line of skirmishers that filled 
the valley from La Haye Sainte to the eastern hamlets, 
pressing on with loud shouts of " Vive rEmpereur !" 
while the cannon-shot tore over their heads into the 
ranks which faced them. The brigades on either flank 
first came in contact with their enemy. On the right 
Durutte's extreme brigade (h) fell upon Papelotte, and 
its skirmishers engaged with those of the brigade of 
Nassau troops led by Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar. 
The French in their first rush carried the farmhouse of 
Papelotte, which had been occupied by but a single 

Dutch-Belgians are not sliown, he- Belle Alliance, and there stood in a 

cause they took no part in the fight. group." This was at the time of the 

The numbers given under the names discovery of the Prussians. Before 

of brigade- and division-commanders this, much time had been lost in per- 

are those of their several regiments fecting the novel arrangement of 

in their proper order. the infantry, so that this attack, 

153 {I ii ^ag noticed on the Eng- vrhich was meant to open the battle, 

lish side," says Gleig, " that, though was not really delivered until two 

the enemy seemed to have completed hours after it had begun on the side 

their formation, a pause of some of Hougomont. Napoleon has been 

continuance ensued. The fire of much blamed because his attacks on 

cannon did not even slacken, neither tliis day were partial and isolated : 

were horse or foot put in motion, in this instance, at least, the defect 

but mounted officers rode briskly to- was no part of his design. 
ward the elevated land above La ^^' See page 201. 



242 QUATRE BRAS, LTGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

tie of liglit company ; but five other companies of Nassauers 
!!!^°" came up and recovered it after a hot struggle. The 
lii fight now spread to La Haye and Smoliain, and con- 
tinued indecisively for some hours, both sides 
gaining occasional partial advantages, but neither dis- 
lodging the other. = On the extreme left of the main 
attack, meanwhile, Ney in person led Donzelot's left 
brigade, (c) across the Charleroi road and forward 
against La Haye Sainte. These buildings had been 
most negligently cared for by the British officers who 
should have strengthened them ; ^^^ but their defence 
had been confided to a gallant officer of the King's Ger- 
man Legion, Major Baring, who occupied the build- 
ings with 2 of the six companies of his own light 
battalion, the garden in their rear with i company, and 
the orchard in front with 3 companies : upon the west 
of the orchard, in extension of its front, he had drawn 
up 2 light companies, also of Ompteda's brigade, and i 
of Hanoverian riflemen. These three companies in the 
field and those behind the orchard 'hedge opened a 
sharp fire upon Ney's skirmishers as they drew near, 
but the French replied effectively — one bullet at the 
first discharge carrying away the bridle of Major 
Baring's horse, while another killed Major Bosewiel, 
his second in command. The numbers of the assailants 
were overwhelming, and bore back the men of the 
German Legion, in spite of their stout resistance, to- 
ward the barn ; they broke through the quickset hedge, 
filled the orchard, and ejected its occupants ; and tliey 
next attacked the buildings themselves. " A brave 
officer, Vieux," says Thiers, " commandant of engineers, 
. . advancing axe in hand to beat down the door of 
the farmhouse, was struck by a ball, but did not yield 
until the number of his wounds rendered it impossible 

^^^ See page 202. 



June i8. 
II. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 243 

for him to stand. The door still resisted, and the balls Battle of 
rained from the walls." The buildings were safe, at ^_^- 
least for the present ; but the orchard was taken, the 
enclosures surrounded, the garden so beset that Baring- 
ordered the company holding it to retire into the 
buildings, and the troops in the field were thoroughly 
overmatched. But Wellington, watching what passed, ^^^ 
had sent down from the heights Col. von Klencke with 
the Luneburg field-battalion, from Kielmansegge's bri- 
gade ; and Baring, thus reinforced, was moving forward 
to recover the orchard, and had already made the 
enemy give ground, when he perceived on his right 
front a line of cuirassiers — a regiment from (a) Eoussel's 
division which had been ordered to charge in conse- 
quence of Wellington's withdrawing part of his infantry 
to the reverse slope in order to shelter them from the 
fire of the great battery, a movement which had seemed 
to Kellermann the beginning of a retreat that ought to 
be followed up by cavalry. As the horsemen came 
upon Baring's outlying skirmishers, these ran in toward 
the orchard to gather in mass, but in doing so they 
colhded with Klencke's battalion and threw it into 
disorder, which became hopeless as the cavalry came 
on in front just as the French infantry in the rear set 
up exultant shouts over their capture of the garden, 

156 t( "Wellington," says Hooper, gun after gun, on tlie commanding 
at the close of his account of the ridge in front of the British left, and 
first stage of the attack upon Hon- he had noted the formatiou of 
gomont, " Wellington had remained columns of attack in rear of the bat- 
above Hougomont during this fierce tery. Hougomont was safe, and the 
and prolonged combat, a mark for Duke now rode over to his left, and 
the enemy's shot. He had watched, halted where the Wavre road inter- 
directed, sustained the fig] it ; but he sects the road from Charleroi to 
had not neglected to observe the Brussels, just above La Haye Sainte, 
movements of his foe on the further a post of observation whence he 
side of La Belle Alliance. He had could distinguish every movement of 
seen Ney's great battery arrayed, the French on that side." 

B 2 



II. 



244 QUATKE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Baring tried in vain to rally them — they scattered and 
fled, some toward the Allied position, whence they had 
come, some into the rear of the garden, some across 
the Charleroi road, while a portion made their way 
into the buildings of La Haye Sainte and joined its 
defenders — thus escaping the fate of the fugitives, who 
for the most part were ridden down and sabred by the 
cuirassiers or shot as they passed by the troojDS in the 
garden, so that the battalion was virtually destroyed, 
Klencke himself being killed and the Major, Von 
Dachenhausen, taken prisoner. The cuirassiers, elated 
at this success, pressed on into the rear of La Haye 
Sainte and were preparing to charge the main position 
— where Kielmansegge's and Ompteda's brigades formed 
squares to receive them — when they were met by 
British cavalry, and an encounter ensued that belongs 
to a later stagfe of the battle. = These conflicts at the 
two extremes of tlie grand advance — at Papelotte and 
at La Haye Sainte, — though earlier than those along 
the centre, were but momentarily so : the rattle and 
smoke of the musketry that began at either end of 
tlie long skirmishing line quickly rolled inward until it 
became continuous throughout its whole length, and 
the attacking columns followed close upon the skir- 
mishers, ^^^ As they neared the Allied position the 
French supporting batteries, which had been playing 
over their heads, suspended their fire, and instead of 
the thunder of the guns were heard the shouts of 
the ardent French soldiery and their drums beating the 

'*'' The troops that had to cross D'Erlon's four divisions advanced to 

the valley found trouble from the the attack in imposing masses, ahout 

mud. Thiers says, " The ground half-past I o'clock, thickly covering 

being soft and wet, the infantry took their whole front with skirmishers : 

some time to cross the space that the actual collision commenced a 

lay between them and the enemy." little before 2 o'clock." 
Kennedy says, " The whole of 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 245 

2:>as de charge. These demonstrations proved too mncli Battle of 
for Bylandt's Dutch-Belgians, who had already become ^_J^- 
restive under their exposure to the artillery fire, but "^lij 
had hitherto remained in line. Now, however, they 
did not await the coming of the French skirmishers, 
but " commenced a hurried retreat, not partially and 2 p.m. 
promiscuously, but collectively and simultaneously — so 
much so that the movement carried with it the appear- 
ance of its having resulted from a word of command. 
The disorder of these troops rapidly augmented ; but, 
on their reaching the straggling hedge along the crest 
of the position, an endeavour was made to rally them 
upon the 5th battalion of Dutch militia. This attempt, 
however, notwithstanding the most strenuous exertions 
on the part of the officers, completely failed. The 
reserve battahon and the artillerymen of Capt. Byleveld's 
battery, though they seemed to stem the torrent for a 
moment, were quickly swept away by its accumulating 
force. As they rushed past the British columns, 
hissings, hootings, and execrations were indignantly 
heaped upon them ; and one portion, in its eagerness to 
get away, nearly ran over the grenadier company of 
the 28th British regiment, the men of which were so 
enraged that it was with difficulty they could be pre- 
vented from firing upon the fugitives. Some of the 
men of the ist, or Royal Scots, were also desirous of 
shooting them. Nothing seemed to restrain their ffight, 
which ceased only when they found themselves com- 
pletely across and covered by the main ridge along 
which the Anglo- Alhed army was drawn up. Here 
they continued, comparatively under shelter, during the 
remainder of the battle, in which they took no further 
part, and to assist in gaining which their services were 
from that moment neither afforded nor required." ^^^ This 

*^^ Tliis account of the stampede of the Dutch-Belgians is by Sihorne, 



246 



QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June 18. 
II. 



flight of the Dutch-Belgians left Picton's division alone 
to withstand the oncoming shock of D'Erlon's three 
heavy columns ; and for a moment Kempt's brigade 
singly was so exposed, for the other brigade, Pack's, 
besides being separated by a wide interval from 
Kempt's left, was also about 1 50 yards in its rear, so 
that Kempt's left flank was liable to be turned. Kempt's 
right was formed by the 95 th regiment, of which 2 



who recounts it mucli more mildly 
than some of his countrymen have 
done. This is in accordance with 
the generally courtier-like tone 
which pervades Siborne's quasi- 
official book, and closely adheres to 
the example set by Wellington, who 
from the first set his face against 
any account of the battle except the 
official reports. In dissuading one 
writer who applied to him for in- 
formation the Duke wrote (August 
8, 1 81 5), " The faults or the misbe- 
haviour of some gave occasion for 
the distinction of others, and per- 
haps were the cause of material 
losses, and you cannot write the 
true history of a battle without in- 
cluding the faults and misbehaviour 
of a part at least of those engaged." 
To the answer to this he rejoined 
(August 17), "I regret much that 
I have not been able to prevail upon 
you to relinquish your plan ; you 
may depend upon it you will never 
make it a satisfactory work. . . . 
Remember, I recommend you to 
leave the battle of Waterloo as it 
is." To Sir John Sinclair, who wrote 
a worthless account of the fight at 
Hougomont which Scott added 
bodily as an appendix to TauVs Let- 
ters, Wellington wrote later (April 
28, 1816), "I am really disgusted 
with and ashamed of all I have seen 
of the battle of Waterloo. The 



number of writings upon it would 
lead the world to suppose that the 
British army had never fought a 
battle before ; and there is not one 
which contains a true representation 
or even an idea of the transaction." 
As to the part of the Dutch-Belgian 
troops in the battle, Wellington • 
obliged in his official report to make 
a mention to which he refers in this^ 
postscript to the letter with which 
he transmitted it to the King of the 
Netherlands, " P.S. — J'ai marque 
au crayon des paragraphes dans mon 
rapport que je prie votre Majeste 
de ne pas laisser publier." = How the 
Belgians themselves regarded the 
whole business is told by Scott in 
one of Paul's Letters : " The Braves 
Beiges are naturally proud of the 
military glory they have acquired, 
as well as of the Prince who led 
them on. In every corner of Brus- 
sels there were ballad-singers bellow- 
ing out songs in praise of the Prince 
[of Orange] and his followers. I, 
who am a collector of popular effu- 
sions, did not fail to purchase speci- 
mens of the Flemish minstrelsy, in 
which, by the way, there is no more 
mention of the Duke of Wellington 
or of John Bull than if John Bull 
and his illustrious general had had 
nothing to do with the battle of 
Waterloo." 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 247 

companies occupied the sand-pit adjoining the Charleroi Battle of 

road, one hned the hedge on the rear and left of the ' 

sand-pit, and the remainder of the 95th and the three — -^ 
other regiments of the brigade were drawn up parallel 
with the hedge, some 50 yards behind it. Upon these 
troops that right brigade of Donzelot's {d) which had 
followed the eastern side of the highroad was now 
moving. It soon came under a severe fire from the 
British batteries and from the rifles of the 95th, who 
had hitherto been concealed by the hedge and tall grain 
in their front, and it also found the highroad obstructed 
by an abatis — from all which it resulted that the 
column swerved greatly toward its right, so that its 
advance was no longer perpendicular to the position of 
the 95th, but diagonally across the front of the brigade 
and in the direction of the 79th and 28th regiments. 
The French skirmishers, however, swarmed into the 
space left between the column and the highroad, out- 
flanked the companies about the sand-pit, and compelled 
them to fall back upon the body of their own regiment, 
as did the skirmishers of all the British regiments 
before the advancing column. Picton was leading his 
line forward and was close to the hedge, when Donze- 
lot's column, about 40 yards distant, halted and began 
to deploy to the right, the rear battahons trying to 
clear their front, but impeded in doing so by their 
novel formation. Picton seized the moment of their 
confusion, and called to his men, in his tremendous 
voice, " A volley, and then charge ! " The volley 
threw the column into disorder, and the British regi- 
ments burst through the hedge to deliver the charge. 
The scramble through the hedge involved delay and 
impaired the formation of the line ; and those of the 
French who were in a condition to act threw in a fire 
that told severely, killing Picton and bringing down 



248 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



II. 



many of his followers, especially of the 79th regiment ; 
but the hedge was soon cleared, and order restored, 
and the brigade dashed forward, charging with the 
bayonet. ^^^ Donzelot's column, already surprised in 
its manoeuvre, and shaken by the fire, became panic- 



^^^ Picton was in Ms saddle be- 
fore Kempt's brigade, watcliing the 
onset of D'Eiion's columns, whicb 
he expected first to fall upon the 
Dutch-Belgians in his front. His 
aide-de-camp, Capt. Tyler, pointing 
out tlieir unsteady condition, and 
saying tliey would certainly run, 
Picton rejoined, " Never mind ; they 
shall have a taste of it at all events," 
and almost instantly they were seen 
in flight. Expressing his opinion of 
their conduct in the extremely forcible 
terms of speech which he had at 
command, Picton led forward his 
own nearest brigade to meet the 
shock, and at the very outset of the 
struggle was struck by a bullet on 
the right temple and instantly killed. 
Capt. Seymour, Lord Uxbridge's 
aide-de-camp, was beside him, rally- 
ing the Highlanders, saw that he was 
struck, and was about to assist him, 
Avhen his own horse fell dead under 
him, and he called to Capt. Tyler, 
who, aided by a private soldier, re- 
moved their already lifeless general 
from his horse and bore away his 
body to the rear. The Earl of 
Albemarle says of Picton — whom he 
describes as "a strong-built man, 
with a red face, small black eyes, and 
large nose," — " There had been some 
misunderstanding between him and 
the Duke of Wellington, and it was 
only a very few da3's before the 
opening of the campaign . . . that 
they were sufficiently reconciled to 
enable him to take the command of 
a corps. He set out from London 



on the iith June, having first made 
his will, as if he had a presentiment 
of the fate that awaited him. My 
friend, the late Mr. James Trotter, 
the Commissary-General of his divi- 
sion, was with him for an hour on 
the morning of the i8th of June. 
He told me that the demeanour of the 
General was that of a man who did 
not expect to outlive the day. He 
fell by a musket-ball early in the 
day, while ' gloriously leading the 
division to a charge with bayonets 
by Avhich one of the most serious 
attacks made by the enemy on our 
position was defeated.' " The quoted 
clause is from the Duke of Wel- 
lington's official despatch. Lord 
Albemarle states that " the ball, 
flattened by striliing against Picton's 
right temple," is in the possession 
of his family. He also describes the 
general's threefold funeral — at Wa- 
terloo, then at St. George's, Lon- 
don ; lastly, at St, Paul's Cathedral 
in 1859. = At nearly the moment of 
Picton's death Ensign Birtwhistle, 
of the 32nd Regiment, fell severely 
wounded, and resigned the regi- 
mental colour to Lieut. Belcher, 
when it was seized by a French 
officer whose horse had just fallen 
under him, and a struggle ensued. 
While Belcher was drawing his 
sword his sergeant thrust the French- 
man in the breast with his halbert, 
and a private shot him just as Major 
Toole was interposing too late with 
the cry, " Save the brave fellow." 
The colour was retained by Belcher, 



Waterloo. 
June 1 8. 
II. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 249 

stricken, and mingled into a struggling mass. The Battieof 
British, pressing upon them as they tried to retreat, 
were bearing them resistlessly down the slope, when 
their advance was arrested by a mass of flying and 
pursuing horsemen who, coming from the rear of La 
Haye Sainte, burst into this part of the field and 
among the scattered French infantry, many of whom 
were ridden down as the cavalry swept away into the 
valley. The contest between Kempt's brigade and 
Donzelot's column was thus ended ; those of the French 
who could escape did so ; many surrendered themselves, 
many were slain, some taken prisoners ; but the charge 
was over, and Kempt, finding that fighting was going 
on beyond his left, hastened to recall his men from 
pursuit and re-form his regiments. ^^^ = Alix's (or 
Quiot's) two brigades {e) had come on in echelon to 
Donzelot's column, at a distance of 300 paces to its 
right. As the Dutch-Belgians disappeared from their 
front, they found themselves before an unoccupied space 
— the interval between Kempt's and Pack's brigades, — 
with nothing apparently to bar their advance to Mont 
St. Jean; and the leading ranks burst through the 
hedge and established themselves with exultant shouts 
upon the crest of the Alhed heights. The extreme left 
of the column, however, came up close upon the flank 
of the 28th regiment of Kempt's brigade at the moment 
when it was advancing in line through the hedge in its 
charge upon Donzelot. The right companies of the (Eng- 
lish) 28th had already become involved in that charge 
and continued to press it ; but the left wing of the regi- 
ment turned upon the new comer, and, separating from 

160 During the struggle with supported the right of Kempt's bri- 

Donzelot's column a battalion of the gade. It returned to its own po- 

German Legion from Ompteda's bri- sition . when the emergency was 

gade crossed the Charleroi road and passed. 



2 50 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

its own right, rapidly brought forward its right shoulder, 
thus forming at a right angle to the remainder of 
Kempt's line and showing a front against Alix's left 
flank. The 28th poured its fire into the passing 
column, thus increasing the disorder it had already 
experienced from its passage through the hedge ; and 
at the same moment the head of the French column 
ceased its triumphant cries and stayed its progress, for 
it unexpectedly found itself on the point of being 
charged by a regiment of British cavalry. = Marcognet's 
division (/) moved on the right of Alix and against 
that portion of the Allied position which, left bare by 
the stampede of the Dutch-Belgians, Pack's Scottish 
regiments were pressing forward to occupy. ^''^ In 
crossing the valley Marcognet's column had suffered 
severely from the fire of Eettberg's Hanoverian battery, 
posted on the commanding knoll at the right of Best's 
brigade ; yet its left brigade passed the hedge at the 
same time with Alix's troops and ascended the slope in 
perfect order and with manifest determination. The 
French brigade faced the 4 2d and 92d Highlanders, 
as both sides continued to advance : the French were 
the first to fire, which they did effectively, but the 
Highlanders refrained from answering until they came 
within 20 or 30 yards of their enemy, when they de- 
livered a volley that for a moment staggered him.. But 
the French quickly recovered themselves and replied 
with great effect, and the Highlanders were in the act 
of moving to the charge when, here also, the cavalry 
came up, and the action took a new shape. Mar- 

^•^1 Pack's brigade moved forward left of the brigade, came up in the 

from its position, somewhat in the rear of Best's line, and was left in 

rear of Best's Hanoverians, as soon support of the three Highland regi- 

as the continuity of the front line ments, which kept on advancing 

was broken. In the advance the toward the front. 
44th regiment, which was on the 



June i8. 



II. 



BATTLE OF WATEKLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 25 1 

cognet's right brigade, being somewhat in the rear Battle of 
of that which met Pack's regiments, encountered no 
infantry, but was involved in the general onset by the 
British horse. 

The Duke of Wellington, as soon as the proportions 
and aim of D'Erlon's attack disclosed themselves, had 
decided to make up for his deficiency in infantry sup- 
ports for his left wing by employing his cavalry. Lord 
Uxbridge, accordingly, prepared for a charge by both 
of his heavy brigades, then drawn up on either side of 
the Charleroi road just in advance of Mont St. Jean — 
Lord Edward Somerset's Household Brigade to attack 
Eoussel's cuirassiers, Sir William Ponsonby's Union 
Brigade to attack D'Erlon's infantry columns. Lord 
Uxbridge himself was to lead the charge of the 
Household Brigade, riding with the 2d Life Guards, 
that he might be at the centre of his line when 
the two brigades should unite in the valley.^^^ Just 
as the horsemen made ready to advance the need 
of support was most urgent along the whole line 
of the conflict — Papelotte at the one extremity and 
La Haye Sainte at the other were hard beset; Eous- 
sel's horsemen had swept Baring's infantry from the 

^®^ There is a standing dispute oiFensive movements might take place 

as to whether a cavahy general in their front. He not only had 

ougbt to charge in person, thereby British light cavalry brigades on 

limiting his command to that of the either flank of his present charge — 

troops immediately about him, or re- Vandeleur's and Vivian's on his 

main vrith the second line and direct left and Grant's on his right — but he 

the movements of the several bodies had designated one regiment of each 

under his charge. In this instance of the charging brigades to act in 

Lord Uxbridge, intent upon establish- support of the remainder — the Blues 

ing the ascendancy of British cavalry, to the Household Brigade, the Scots 

had determined in advance upon as- Greys to the Union Brigade. Never- 

suming the personal leadership; but he theless the Greys got unavoidably 

had taken the precaution of advising drawn into the first line, and before 

the commanders of his brigades that the affair was ended the want of 

he expected them to support whatever supports was most serious. 



252 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of open field, had cut down a Hanoverian battalion, and 

' were on the point of attacking the Allied centre ; on 

'- the left Picton's two wasted brigades seemed about 

II. . 

to be overborne by five of the intact brigades of 

D'Erlon. At this moment came the order to charge. 
The cuirassiers (a), triumphant from their overthrow of 
the Hanoverians, had ridden through the line of fire of 
two batteries and up to the brow of the Alhed ridge ; 
they had regained their order ; their trumpets had 
sounded the charge ; they were dashing forward with 
shouts of " Vive V Empereui' ! " upon Ompteda's and 
Kielmansegge's squares, which had already opened 
fire upon them, when the Household Brigade, also at 
charging speed, dashed into them. The shock w^as 
tremendous, but it answered the purpose of the English 
horsemen, whose aim was to wedge themselves in 
closely among their antagonists and come to close 
quarters, thus at once lessening the advantage the 
French derived from their much longer sabres and 
gaining for themselves the benefit of their superior 
weight both of men and of horses. " Swords gleamed 
high in air with the suddenness and rapidity of the 
lightning-flash, now clashing violently together, and 
now clanging heavily upon resisting armour ; whilst 
with the din of the battle-shock were mingled the 
shouts and yells of the combatants. Eiders vainly 
struggling for mastery quickly fell under the deadly 
thrust or the well-delivered cut. Horses, plunging and 
rearing, staggered to the earth, or broke wildly from 
the ranks. But, desperate and bloody as was the 
struggle, it was of brief duration. The physical supe- 
riority of the British, aided by transcendent valour, 
was speedily made manifest ; and the cuirassiers, not- 
withstanding their gallant and most resolute resistance, 
were driven down from off the ridge which they had 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 



25. 



June 18. 



II. 



ascended only a few minutes before with all the pride Battle of 

. Waterloo. 

and confidence of men accustomed and determined to 
overcome every obstacle." ^^" The clash of these two 
bodies of cavalry and the subsequent hand-to-hand 
conflict did not occur throughout the whole extent of 
their array : the approaching lines were not parallel 
with one another, and it was the British right-hand 



^^^ The description of tliis cavalry 
action is quoted from Siborne, as are 
the two which follow. Kennedy, 
who beheld the encounter, says, " I 
believe this to have been the only 
fairly tested fight of cavalry against 
cavalry during the day. It was a 
fair meeting of two bodies of heavy 
cavalry, each in pei'fect order. The 
subsequent attacks were either those 
of heavy cavalry against heavy 
cavalry that had been previously 
wi'ecked upon squares of infantry, or 
contests between light and heavy 
cavalry." Scott wrote to the Duke 
of Buccleuch, after his visit to Wa- 
terloo, this account of the cavalry 
conflict : — " The cuirassiers, despite 
their arms of proof, were quite infe- 
rior to our heavy dragoons. The 
meeting of the two bodies occasioned 
a noise not inaptly compared to the 
tinkering and hammering of a smith's 
shop. Generally the cuirassiers came 
on stooping their heads very low, 
and giving point; the British fre- 
quently struck away their casques 
while they were in this position, and 
then laid at the bare head. Officers 
and soldiers all fought hand to 
hand, without distinction ; and 
many of the former owed their life 
to dexterity at their weapon and 
personal strength of body." Sir 
Augustus Frazer wrote, "The Life 
Guards . . . overset the cuirassiers, 
searching with the coolness of expe- 



rienced soldiers the unprotected 
parts of their opponents, and stabbing 
where the openings of the cuirass 
would admit the points of their 
swords." One Hodgson — a private 
in the Life Guards, who was wound- 
ed, but afterwards stood as a model 
to Haydon, the painter — thus re- 
counted to the latter his experience : 
— " The first man who stopped him, 
he told us, was an L'ishman in the 
French service. He dashed at 

Hodgson, saying, ' you, I'll 

stop your crowing.' Hodgson said 
he felt frightened, as he had never 
fought anybody with swords. The 
first cut he gave was on the cuii-ass, 
which Hodgson thought was silver- 
lace^the shock nearly broke his 
arm. Watching the cuirassier, how- 
ever, he found he could move his 
own horse quicker ; so, dropping the 
reins, and guiding his horse with his 
knees, as the cuirassier at last gave 
point, Hodgson cut his sword-hand 
off, and then dashed the point of his 
sword into the man's throat, turned 

it round and round. ' me, sir,' 

he added, ' now I had found out the 
way, I soon gave it them.' "■=To un- 
derstand the incident which follows, 
the formation of the heights in rear 
of La Haye Sainte and the "hollow- 
ways " formed by the intersecting 
Wavre and Charier oi roads must be 
borne in mind (see p. 179, and note 
109). 



2 54 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of regiment, the ist Life Guards, which first came in 
1!!-1°' contact with the cuirassiers, and from them the colhsion 

^^^ ■ ran instantaneously down the hue — resembhng, some 
eye-witnesses declared, a wave on the sea-coast, when 
the break begins at one end and runs along the crest 
toward the other ; while some likened it to " the meet- 
ing of two flocks of sheep in a confined space, neither 
of which will give ground." But before that end of 
either line nearest the Charleroi road was an obstacle 
that prevented their mingling — that *' hollow-way " 
formed where the Wavre road is cut through the 
heights and intersects the Charleroi road. Coming 
upon this unexpectedly, the cuirassiers were checked 
in their career, but could not stop ; they scrambled as 
best they could down the almost precipitous bank, and 
reached the roadway with so little semblance of order 
that it was hopeless to attempt a stand against the left 
of Somerset's line — the 2d Life Guards — which was 
coming at full speed upon them. They filed off ab- 
ruptly to their right, and, pursued by the Life Guards, 
as much disordered as themselves, dashed across the 
Charleroi road and into the space in which Picton's 
men were at that instant driving the head of Donzelot's 
column [d) down the slope. ^^* Here many of the 
cuirassiers stayed their flight, turned upon the Life 
Guards, and brought on innumerable single combats ; 
but most of the French horsemen plunged in among 
their own scattered infantry, who " threw themselves 
down to allow both fugitives and pursuers to ride over 
them, and then in many instances rose up and fired 
after the latter." ^^^ Soon even those who had stood at 

^•^'^ See text, page 249. them together anyliow, wherever 

'^' This version of the occiUTeuce they grouped most picturesquely, and 

is Siborne's. Alison — who was very without regard to their actual time 

diligent in collecting tlie various in- or place — first says, with his usual 

cideuts of the battle, and then fitting grammatical felicity, that the French 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 



•55 



bay were forced by the greater individual strength of 
the Enghsh to resume their flight ; the dragoons fol- 
lowed them, and, pressing down into the valley, joined 
there the remainder of their own brigade, who had 
pursued the great mass of the cuirassiers down the 
western side of La Haye Sainte, as well as the regiments 
of the Union Brigade on their left, which down to this 
time had been engaged with D'Erlon's infantry. ^^^ = 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



II. 



infantry '' was rode over," and tlien 
adds in ooutiuuation that "the sol- 
diers in despair fell on their faces on 
the ground and called for quarter." 
It may be remarked once for all that 
such representations — of which there 
were many in the earlier English 
nari'atives — are not in accordance 
with fact. In this instance, the 
foolish manner in which D'Erlon's 
columns had been formed made it 
impossible for the men to deploy ex- 
peditiously and rendered them help- 
less against inferior numbers. But 
in every phase of the battle, as long 
as it was contested, the French, like 
the British, fought gallantly. 

^•"^ Corporal Shaw, of the 2d 
Life Guards, a noted pugilist, per- 
formed extraordinary exploits during 
this charge. Disdaining the use of 
the sabre, he laid his opponents low 
with his fists, disposing in this way 
of several in succession — " not fewer 
than 7 enemies," says Gleig ; " not 
less than 9 of bis opponents," says 
Siborne ; " he is supposed to have 
slain or disabled 10 Frenchmen with 
his own hand," says Scott. It is 
certain, at any rate, that the man 
showed wonderful boldness and dex- 
terity and spread terror around him. 
Siborne says that a cuirassier rode 
to one side, took deliberate aim with 
his carbine, and ended " that life 
which his powerful arm and gallant 



daring had made proof against the 
swords of all who ventured to ap- 
proach him." Gleig declares this to 
be a mistake, adding, " Shaw con- 
tinued with his regiment till the 
ardour of men and horses carried 
them whence few were able to re- 
turn, and reached the position again 
so enfeebled from the loss of blood, 
that he could with difficulty creep to 
a dunghill beside one of the straggling 
houses in the rear, where he lay down. 
Nobody noticed him during the re- 
mainder of the struggle ; but next 
morning he was found dead, without 
one wound about him sufficiently 
serious in itself to occasion death." 
Scott says that " In the morning 
he was found dead, with his face 
leaning on his hand, as if life had 
been extinguished while he was in a 
state of insensibility." Scott, it may 
be mentioned, had Shaw's skull 
among the adornments of his Abbots- 
ford museum. Haydon, the painter, 
had formerly employed Shaw as a 
model, and looked up some of his 
comrades, to learn his fate : — " Ano- 
ther," he says, " saw Shaw fighting 
with two cuirassiers at a time ; 
Shaw, he said, always ' cleared his 
passage.' He saw him take an 
eagle, but lose it afterwards, as 
when any man got an eagle all the 
others near him, on both sides, left 
oft' fighting, and set on him who had 



256 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Ponsonby, on receiving tlie order to charge, put the 
three regiments of the Union Brigade in position to 
move — the Scots Greys in support, on the left rear of 
the other two regiments, — and he himself rode forward 
to the hedge before the Wavre road, that he might see 
the position of the enemy and time his attack oppor- 
tunely. It was delivered in each case precisely where 
it was needed.^'''' The right-hand regiment, the Royals, 



the eagle. Afterwards, when lying 
wounded in the yard at La Haye 
Sainte, he heard some one groaning, 
and, turning round, saw Shaw, who 
said, ' I am dying ; my side is torn 
off by a shell.' Corporal Webster, 
of the 2d Life Guards, saw Shaw 
give his first cut ; a cuirassier gave 
point at him, Shaw parried the 
thrust, and before the cuirassier re- 
covered Shaw cut him right through 
his brass helmet to the chin, ' and his 
face fell off' him like a bit of apple.' " 
= It was during the hurried dash of 
the cuirassiers into the rear of La 
Haye Sainte and across the Oharleroi 
road, that some of them floundered 
into the sand-pit and were either 
killed by the fall or shot by the 
rifles of the 95th. Hooper's account 
is as follows: — " The French broke 
away to their right, thinking to 
escape down the Oharleroi road, but, 
stopped by the abatis, they crossed 
the road. ... As they crossed the 
Oharleroi road a round shot from La 
Belle Alliance bounded up the pave, 
and struck the mass ; in a moment 
horses and men were writhing in the 
wildest confusion. Some stumbled 
also into the gravel-pit, where a cui- 
rassier and a Life Guardsman, on 
foot, wrestled together with deadly 
tenacity." The Guardsman, Hooper 
adds in a note, was named George 
Gerrard, and he Idlled his antago- 



nist. It was doubtless this inci- 
dent which Alison, following PauVs 
Letters, had in mind when relating 
how Wellington checked an advance 
of cuirassiers by a charge of Somer- 
set's brigade. " These splendid 
troops," he says, " overflowing with 
strength, bore down with such 
vigour on the French cuirassiers that 
they were fairly rode [sic] over by 
the weight of man and horse, and a 
considerable number, driven head- 
long over a precipice into a gravel- 
pit, were killed by the fall, while the 
remainder, trgd [sic] under foot and 
crushed by the wheels of some artil- 
lery and wagons which at the mo- 
ment were coming up, perished mis- 
erably." This episode Alison refers 
to the period during which the 
French held La Haye Sainte and 
thence attacked the Allied centre 
— that is, the fourth phase of the 
battle. Victor Hugo, again, expands 
upon Alison's story so far as to have 
the greater part of the French ca- 
valry engulfed in a hidden chasm, 
which he makes an adequate cause 
for the loss of the battle. This he 
associates with the general cavalry 
charges against the Allied line — the 
third phase of the battle. The germ 
of his truly astonishing romance lies 
in this flight beside the sand-pit. 

^'^'^ The cavalry attacks were 
made almost simultaneously along 



II. 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— SECOND ATTACK. 257 

dashed unexpectedly upon the head of Ahx's (e) leadmg Battle of 
cohimn/^^ which had already cleared the hedge, and ^_^^- 
was pressing exultantly up the slope, with no enemy 
that it could see in its front, though its left flank had 
been fired upon by Kempt's 28th regiment. "Sud- 
denly," says Siborne, " its loud shouts of triumph 
ceased as it perceived the close approach of cavalry up 
the interior slope of the Allied position. Whether it 
was actuated by a consciousness of danger from the 
disorder necessarily occasioned in its rear by the passage 
through the banked-up hedges, by the dread of being 
caught in the midst of any attempt to assume a for- 
mation better adapted for effective resistance, or of 
being entirely cut off from all support, it is difficult to 
decide ; but the head of this column certainly appeared 
to be seized by a panic. Having thrown out an 
irregular and scattering fire, which served only to bring 
down about 20 of the dragoons, it instantly faced about 
and endeavoured to regain the opposite side of the 
hedges. The Eoyals, however, were slashing in 
amongst them before this object could be effected. 
The rear ranks of the column, still pressing forward 
and unconscious of the obstruction in front, now met 
those that were hurled back upon them, down the 
exterior slope, by the charge of the Eoyals, who con- 
tinued pressing forward against both front and flanks 

the whole line. Merely to preserve column. Marcognet's division, 300 

the sequence of the narrative, they paces on its right, was similarly ar- 

are described here in the order fol- ranged, as shown in the annexed 

lowed with the French attacks diagram,— the numbers being those 

already described — that is, from the of the regiments. 
French left to right. Alix Makcocjnet 

^®® Alix's division had marched 
in echelon of brigades, each brigade 



28 105 25 45 



consisting of 2 regiments, and each qt; qA -'6 4.6 
regiment of 2 battalions marching: in — 



June 1 8 
II, 



258 QUATRE BRAS, LTGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of of the iiiass. The whole was in a moment so jammed 
together as to have become perfectly helpless. Men 
tried in vain to nse their muskets, which were either 
jerked out of their hands, or discharged at random in 
the attempt. Gradually, a scattering flight from the 
rear loosened the unmanageable mass, which now 
rolled back helplessly along its downward course. 
Many brave spirits, hitherto pent up in the midst of the 
throng, appeared disposed to hazard a defiance ; and 
amongst these the swords of the Eoyals dealt fearful 
havoc : many others threw down their arms and gave 
themselves up in despair, and these were hurried off by 
the conquerors to the rear of tlie British line." ^^^ On the 
left of the 105th regiment, which had thus given way, 
was the 28th, as yet unattacked, though much dis- 
ordered by the pressure of the fugitives who threw 
themselves upon it ; but on witnessing the discomfiture 
of the other brigade by the Inniskillings, it made but 
faint resistance when the Eoyals attacked it, and re- 
treated in disorder into the valley, pursued by the 
dragoons. = The Inniskillings, coming up on the left of 
the Eoyals, were a moment later in striking the enemy ; 
for their left and part of their centre squadron had to 
pass through or around tlie right of Pack's brigade in 
their advance, and their charge was directed against 
the right-hand brigade of Alix's division, which was in 

'^'^ The eagle of the 105th regi- ard-bearer, but could only touch 
meat, which had been presented by without holding the colour as it fell, 
the Empress Maria, Louisa, was and it was caught by the corporal 
taken dui'ing this turmoil. The w^ho followed his captain. Clark 
guard surrounding it were seeking Avas about breaking the eagle from 
shelter in the yet unbroken column the pole when the corporal remon- 
of the 28th, -when Oapt. Olark of the strated, saying, "Pray, sir, do not 
Royals saw it, gave the order " Right break it ! " The captain sent 
shoulders forward — attack the him with it to the rear, and it sub- 
colour," and led toward it himself. sequently decorated Chelsea Hos- 
He ran his sword through the stand- pital. 



June 1 8. 
II. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECONt) ATTACK. 259 

support of the brigade on which the Eoyals had fallen, Battle of 
and not so far up the slope. ^^^ " The Irish ' Hurrah ! ' 
loud, long, and shrill, rent the air, as the Inniskillings, 
bursting through the hedge and bounding over the road, 
dashed boldly do^vn the slope towards the French columns, 
which were about 100 yards distant — an interval that 
imparted an additional impetus to their cliarge, and 
assisted in securing for it a result equally brilliant with 
that obtained by the other two regiments. The right 
and centre squadrons bore down upon the 55th French 
regiment, while the left squadron alone charged the 
54th regiment. These columns, like those on the right 
and left, were not allowed time to recover from their 
astonishment at the unexpected, sudden, and vehement 
charge of cavalry launched against them. A feeble 
and irregular fire was the only attempt made -to avert 
the impending danger. In the next instant the 
dragoons were amongst them, plying their swords with 
fearful swiftness and dexterity, and cleaving their way 

^"° As the Inniskillings rode for- the field and then back to Brussels ; 

ward there was an episode which but he had, as the Eev. Mr. Gleig 

the British popular historian of tlie states it, " not fewer than three sons 

period fondly dwelt upon, and whicli, in the fight — the present Duke, then 

in the opinion of the Rev. Mr. Gleig, Earl of March, Lord George and 

" though it has frequently been de- Lord WilJiam Lennox ; " and the 

scribed before, cannot well be popular historian records, as if it 

omitted from any narrati-se which were a Providential recognition of 

undertakes to tell the story of the the Ducal condescension, that but 

Battle of Waterloo." There rode up one of these youths was wounded, 

to the dragoons as they passed " a " for," he observes, " none of the blood 

gentleman iu coloured clothes," who of Lennox ever shrunk. from danger, 

gave utterance to these remarkable and all were that day more than 

words — "At 'em, my lads, at 'em; usually exposed to it." = The Lord 

now's your time ! " The speaker, Mr. William Lennox above mentioned 

Gleig tells us, was " the late chival- many years after published two 

rous and gallant Duke of Richmond." volumes of Recollections — as silly and 

It does not appear that, aside from purposeless a book as is often seen ; 

this burst of eloquence, the Duke did but it added nothing to our informa- 

anything but ride for awhile about tion on the subject of this battle. 

s 2 



II. 



26o QUATHE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

into the midst of the masses which, rolhng back and 
scattering outwards, presented an extraordinary scene 
of confusion. In addition to the destruction effected 
by this regiment, the number of prisoners which it 
secured was immense. " = Farthest on the left of the 
Union Brigade were the Scots Greys. They had been 
appointed to act in reserve ; but as they followed the 
other regiments they saw Pack's Highlanders hastening 
to the front and about to charge the immensely out- 
numbering column of Marcognet (/), which had already 
surmounted the heights in excellent order and was 
advancing resolutely. The duty of the Greys was 
clear ; they joined in the general charge, passing 
through the ranks of the Highland infantry as best they 
could, and receiving an enthusiastic greeting from their 
countrymen. " They mutually cheered. ' Scotland 
for ever ! ' was the war-shout. The smoke in which 
the head of the French column was enshrouded had not 
cleared away when the Greys dashed into the mass. 
So eager was the desire, so strong the determination, of 
the Highlanders to aid their compatriots in completing 
the work so gloriously begun, that many were seen 
holding on by the stirrups of the horsemen, while all 
rushed forward, leaving none but the disabled in their 
rear. The leading portion of the column soon yielded 
to this infuriated onset : the remainder, which was yet 
in the act of ascending the exterior slope, appalled by 
the sudden appearance of cavalry at a moment when, 
judging by the sound of musketry-fire in front, they 
had naturally concluded that it was with infantry alone 
they had to contend, were hurled back in confusion by 
the impetus of the shock. The dragoons, having the 
advantage of the descent, appeared to mow down the 
mass, which, bending under the pressure, quickly 
spread itself outwards in all directions. Yet in that 



June i8. 



II. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 26 1 
mass were many gallant spirits, who could not be Battle of 

JO i ' Waterloo. 

brought to yield without a struggle ; and these fought 
bravely to the death — not that they served to impede, 
but only to mark more strongly the course of the 
impetuous torrent as it swept wildly past them, pre- 
senting to the eye of the artistic observer those streaks 
which, arising incidentally from such partial and indi- 
vidual contests, invariably characterize the track of 
a charge of cavalry. Within that mass, too, was borne 
the Imperial eagle of the 45th regiment, proudly dis- 
playing on its banner the names of Jeiia, Aiisterlitz, 
Wagrani, Eylau, and Friedland — fields in which this 
regiment had covered itself with glory, and acquired 
the distinguished title of ' The Invincibles.' A devoted 
band encircled the sacred standard, which attracted 
the observation and excited the ambition of a daring 
and adventurous soldier named Ewart, a sergeant of 
the Greys. After a desperate struggle, evincing on his 
part great physical strength combined with extraor- 
dinary dexterity, he succeeded in capturing the 
cherished trophy. ^^^ . . . Without pausing for a mo- 
ment to re-form, those of the Greys who had forced 

>''' Sergeant Ewart was sent with the standard of the 45th," and "re- 
his trophy to Brussels, where, says turns to his colonel with the trophy 
Siborne, " he was received with which he had so gloriously redeemed." 
acclamations by thousands, who On a later page Thiers — never con- 
came forward to welcome and con- tent with a single issue of his fabri- 
gi'atulate him." Like Corporal cations — says in his summary of the 
Stiles, of the Royals, who assisted battle, " It wa s very strange that we 
Capt. Clark in taking the eagle of lost but one standard, Urban, sub- 
the 105th, Ewart was advanced to officer of lancers, having recovered 
the rank of ensign. Siborne, writing that of the 45th, one of the two 
in 1844, says, "This eagle now taken from D'Erlon's corps." 
adorns the chapel of Chelsea Hos- Ewart's progress in Brussels and 
pital." Thiers, however, recounting his promotion the foUowirg year 
a later stage of this same charge of seem to answer the story of his death 
the Greys, tells how Urban, a French at Urban's hand ; and the colour of 
lancer, after killing Sir Edward Pon- the 45th, hanging beside that of the 
sonby, also killed "him that holds 105th in Chelsea Hospital, speaks 



II. 



262 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

tlieir way through or on either flank of the mass, 
rushed boldly onward agahist the leading supporting 
columns of Marcognet's right brigade [i.e.^ the 26th 
regiment]. This body of men, lost in amazement at 
the suddenness, the wildness of the charge, and its 
terrific effect upon their countrymen on the higher 
ground in front, had either not taken advantage of the 
very few moments that intervened by preparing an 
effectual resistance to cavalry, or, if they attempted the 
necessary formation, did so when there was no longer 
time for its completion. Their outer files certainly 
opened a fire which proved very destructive to their 
assailants ; but to such a degree had the impetus of 
the charge been augmented by the rapidly increasing 
descent of the slope, that these brave dragoons possessed 
as little of the power as of the will to check their speed, 
and they plunged down into the mass with a force that 
was truly irresistible. Its foremost ranks driven back 
with irrepressible violence, the entire column tottered 
for a moment, and then sank under the overpowering 
wave. Hundreds were crushed to rise no more ; and 
hundreds rose again but to surrender to the victors, 
who speedily swept their prisoners to the rear, while 
the Highlanders secured those taken from the leading 
column." ^^^ But a single regiment remained unbroken 

for itself, like the statue which, ac- port with his marching with the 

cording to Macaulay, the Roman 25th regiment. After describing 

people raised in honour of Horatius the slowness of their march because 

after his defence of the bridge — of the soft ground in the valley, he 

continues, " As we mounted on the 

" They made a molten image, other side we were met by a hail of 

And set it up on high, -balls from above the road at the left. 

And there it stands until this day, jf ^e had not been so crowded to- 

To witness if I lie." gether, this terrible volley would 

have checked us." [This would 
^^'-^ The Erckmann - Chatrian indicate his being in the 28th regi- 
conscript's account of the charge ment of Alix's division, which re- 
contains ijicidents whicli only com- ceived the flank fire from Kempt's 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 263 

of the entire ten regiments with which D'Erlon had 
attacked Picton — the 46th, which formed the rearmost 



28th, but the subsequent experiences 
do not accord with this.] . , . "Two 
batteries now swept our ranks, and 
the shot from the hedges a hundred 
feet distant pierced us through and 
through. A cry of horror burst 
forth, and we rushed on the batteries, 
overpowering the redcoats, who 
vainly endeavoured to stop us. . . . 
Every shot of the English told, and 
we were forced to break our ranks. 
Men are not palisades, and must 
defend themselves when attacked. 
Great numbers were detached from 
their companions, when thousands 
of Englishmen rose up from among 
the barley, and fired their muskets 
almost touching our men, which 
caused a terrible slaughter. The 
other ranks rushed to the support of 
their comrades, and we should all 
have been dispersed over the hill- 
side like a swarm of ants if we had 
not heard the shout, ' Attention, the 
cavalry ! ' Almost at the same in- 
stant a crowd of red dragoons 
mounted on grey horses swept down 
upon us like the wind, and those 
who had straggled were cut to pieces 
without mercy. They did not fall 
upon our columns in order to break 
them; they were too deep and 
massive for that ; but they came 
doAvu between the divisions, 
slashing right and left with their 
sabres, and spurring their horses into 
the flanks of the columns to cut 
them in two, and though they could 
not succeed in this, they killed great 
numbers and threw us into confusion. 
. . . The worst was that at that mo- 
ment their foot soldiers rallied and 
recommenced their fire, and they 
even were so bold as to attack us with 



the bayonet. Only the first two 
ranks made a stand. It was shame- 
ful to form our men in that manner. 
Then the red dragoons and our 
columns rushed pell-mell down the 
hill together." = Thiers' whole ac- 
count of D'Erlon's charge is extra- 
ordinary. Donzelot's division, he 
says, " killed a great number of the 
95th [of whom only 34 were killed 
during the entire day], and drove 
back Kempt and Bylandt's battalions 
at the point of the bayonet." Where 
Marcognet charged, " the position 
was apparently taken, and the vic- 
tory ours, when, at a signal from 
Gen. Picton [who by this time was 
dead, some distance away], Pack's 
Scots rose unexpectedly from among 
the corn." Next, " Gen. Picton 
orders Kempt and Pack's combined 
battalions [though Alix's division was 
between them all the while] to charge 
them [Marcognet] at the point of 
the bayonet." Lastly, '* The Duke 
of Wellington, having hastened to the 
spot [he was in fact on the west of 
the Charleroi road, which he never 
crossed during the battle], attacks 
them with Ponsonby's 1,200 Scotch 
dragoons, called the Scotch Greys, 
from the colour of their horses," 
The Scots Greys, in fact, numbered 
391 men, and Thiers compliments 
their efficiency by giving as their 
strength more than that of the entire 
Union Brigade. ; Tributes to this 
regiment were not wanting. Victor 
Hugo records of Napoleon that " on 
seeing the admirable Scots Greys 
massed with their superb horses, he 
said, 'It is a pity.' " Alison quotes 
the Emperor as saying of their 
progress during the charge in the 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 

"Vine 18, 

II. 



June 1 8. 
II. 



264 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

supporting column of Marcognet's division. It was 
passed to one side by the Scots Greys as they pressed 
on into the valley, but was presently overwhelmed in 
its turn, as other British cavalry came up. = The charge 
of the British heavy cavalry brigades had thus been 
delivered with splendid effect throughout their whole 
line, and their success had been almost instantaneous 
except on the extreme right, where the cuirassiers had 
made an obstinate though fruitless resistance to their 
onset. But here too the English bore their foe before 
them, and, a little later than their comrades on the 
east of La Haye Sainte, pursued him" into the valley, 
whither all were now riding. The ist Life Guards 
followed closely on the rear of the cuirassiers, who 
sought to escape through the " hollow-way " by which 
the Charleroi road crosses the central elevation ; but 
their numbers soon choked the narrow passage, and the 
rearmost were compelled to turn and renew once more 
the hand-to-hand contest in which they had already 
been worsted. The Life Guards, however, had now 
ridden into the fire of Bachelu's light troops {b) who 
held the central heights, and were obhged to relinquish 
pursuit in this direction. On their left had ridden the 
King's (ist) Dragoon Guards, who now crossed the 
Charleroi road and joined in the general dash upon the 
French position, in which all the horsemen east of La 
Haye Sainte had engaged. Now, for the first time, 
Lord Uxbridge had opportunity to look back for his 
supports, and discovered to his mortification that they 
were wanting : on the left the Scots Greys had not only 
ridden into the first line, but were dashing on most 
madly of all ; beyond them there was no indication 

valley, " Ces terribles chevaux gris : is enough to discredit all stories re- 
comme Us travnillent ! " But this is sembling it. 
on the autliDrity of Lacoste, which 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 265 
that tlie light brigades were concerning themselves Battle of 



about the contest ; and the only regiment retaining 
anything like formation was his own immediate support, 
the Blues, who had come up with the first line, but 
had been kept well in hand, and were in a condition to 
cover the retreat of their comrades. Lord Uxbridge 
sounded the halt and recall, but voice and trumpet 
were unavailing. He, indeed, assembled the regiments 
nearest himself — the ist Life Guards, which had been 
checked by Bachelu's fire, and portions of the King's 
and 2d Life Guards, — and withdrew them to their 
position, covered by the Blues against the pursuit of a 
well-formed body of fresh cuirassiers.^''^ But east of 
the Charleroi road there was no checking the men of 
the Union Brigade. Carried away by their initial suc- 
cess, they had scattered all that first opposed them, and 
ridden on, disordered as they were, until they reached 
the central heights. Here some of the Eoyals and 
Inniskilhngs were stopped by the fire of the French 
batteries and infantry, and followed the retreat ordered 
by Lord Uxbridge, in time to escape severe loss from 
the enemy's cavalry. But the Scots Greys, followed by 
many of the others, dashed up the French position and 
into the batteries, sabring the gunners, cutting the 
horses' throats and the traces, and spiking the guns and 
overturning them in the mud. Soon they perceived 
upon their left a body of fresh cavalry moving down to 
attack them — Jaquinot's lancers, who advanced with 

^^^ Among' the killed in this ball struck and overthrew his horse, 

charge was Col. Fuller, of the King's just as he was about regaining the 

Dragoon Guards, who fell while Allied position. " Scramble through 

pursuing the cuirassiers up the the hedge," cried a passing officer, 

French position on the east of the "■ you've not a moment to lose ; " 

Charleroi road. = Lord Edward and he did so without rising from 

Somerset had a narrow escape while his hands and knees, barely in time 

returning in rear of his men, pur- to escape the cuirassiers, who drew 

sued by the cuirassiers. A cannon up at the hedge. 



Waterloo 



June 18. 
II. 



266 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



II. 



their right squadrons charging in open column, and the 
remainder spread in open lancer order over the plain, 
so as to destroy the English stragglers and wounded, 
and shelter the retreat of their own infantry. From 
the French right wing at the same time moved down a 
body of Milhaud's cuirassiers upon them.^^* The 
Greys now endeavoured to make good their retreat; 
but their horses were thoroughly blown from their 
-prolonged exertions, the ground was slippery and 
heavy, and the dragoons, who had not a vestige of 
formation remaining, were overtaken by the lancers, 
whose fresh horses and perfect order enabled them to 
inflict such severe losses upon the fugitives, before 
they could regain the Allied position and the cover 
of the infantry, that little more than half of the Union 



Brigade reassembled. ^"^^ 

"* "Napoleon," says Thiers, 
" had seen this confusion from the 
height where he was stationed. He 
sprang on his horse and galloped 
across the battlefield to where 
Milhaud's heavy cavalry were sta- 
tioned, and ordered the Travers bri- 
gade, consisting of the 7th and I2tli 
cuirassiers, to attack the Scotch 
dragoons. One regiment attacked 
them in front, another on one flank, 
whilst the lancers under Gen. 
Jaquinot attacked them on the 
other." = The lancers were the 4th 
regiment, commanded by Col. Bro, 
who was severely wounded in the 
conflict. 

^''^ Among those who fell was the 
general commanding the Union Bri- 
gade, Sir William Ponsonby. He 
was in the first instance but poorly 
mounted, and had tried his horse's 
strength in his endeavours to head off 
and turn back his men from their 
wUd onset : so that when overtaken 



Vandeleur's light brigade, 

by the lancers in a spot of soft 
ground he had little chance to de- 
fend himself, and perished. Thiers 
tells the story thus : " The Scotch 
dragoons, surprised in all the con- 
fusion 'of pursuit, and attacked on 
every side, were at once cut to pieces. 
Our cuirassiers, inflamed with the 
desire of avenging the infantry, 
rushed on them with their long sabres 
and hewed them down. The 4tli 
lancers, headed by Col. Bro, dealt 
with them unsparingly. A quar- 
termaster of the lancers, named 
Urban, rushed into tlie thickest of 
the fight and took the brave Pon- 
sonby, commander of the dragoons, 
prisoner. The Scotch seek to free 
their general, but Urban lays him 
dead at his feet ; then, attacked by 
several dragoons, he rides directly to 
him that holds the standard of the 
45th, unhorses bim with a blow of 
his lance, kills him with a second, 
seizes the colours, kills another of 



June i8. 



ir. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 267 
meantime, had executed a charge that rescued the Battle of 

Wfit6rloo, 

remnant of the Union Brigade from what might have 
proved ahiiost annihilation. From his position in the 
front hue on the left of Best, Yandeleur had seen 
that his light dragoons would be needed in support 
of Uxbridge's charge, and had early put them in 
motion ; but the formation of the ground obliged him 
to make so great a detour to his rear that he was 
not yet at hand when the general charge took effect. 
He came up to the front of Best's brigade with his 
leading regiment, the 12th light dragoons, — the i6tli 
following, and the 1 1 th remaining in reserve upon the 
brow of the hill, — at the moment when it became 
evident that the heavy dragoons among the French 
batteries were about to be charged by Jaquinot's 
lancers. In his immediate front, and between him and 
the Union Brigade, was the 46th French regiment, the 
sole residue of D'Erlon's grand attack, which, though 
not yet assailed, was disordered by the overthrow of 
its companion regiments and had stayed its advance. 
Col. Frederick Ponsonby, with his 1 2th light dragoons, 
charged directly down upon the right flank of this 
regiment, penetrated and rode through it, and, with- 
out stopping to complete his victory or rearrange his 
own ranks, hastened forward to the succour of Gen. 
Ponsonby 's brigade. He came upon the right flank of 

the Scotch who is pursuing him charging up the French heights, 

close, and then, covered with blood, Another of the Greys whose death 

returns to his colonel with the trophy iu this charge deserves mention was 

which he had so gloriously redeemed." Sergeant Weir, pay-sergeant of his 

Tlie story of the recapture of the troop. His body was found with his 

eagle of the 45th has already name written on his forehead by his 

been disposed of in note 171, page finger dipped in his own blood — apre- 

261.= The commander of the Scots caution for his identification, his com- 

Greys, Col. Hamilton, was one of rades explained, that he might not be 

the victims to his own rash valour. suspected of disappearing with the 

He gallantly lieaded his regriment, money of his troop, 
and was last seen^ still in advance, 



268 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



II. 



a regiment of Jaquinot's lancers in pursuit of the 
Greys ; he struck it at full speed and almost perpen- 
dicularly, and rolled up its line ; and at nearly the 
same moment the i6th light dragoons, with Van- 
deleur at their head, attacked the continuation of the 
lancers' line obliquely upon its front. The advance 
of the French Hght horse Avas thus completely checked, 
and Vandeleur pursued to the foot of the valley, which 
he had ordered his men not to pass ; though some 
of them did so and paid for their rashness with their 
lives. ^^^ But the greater part of both the 12th and i6th 

liim that he might search me, di- 
recting him to a small side pocket, 
in which he found three dollars, 
being all I had ; he unloosed my 
stock and tore open my waistcoat, 
then leaving me in a very uneasy 
posture, and was no sooner gone 
than another came for the same pur- 
pose ; but assuring him that I had 
been plundered already, he left me, 
when an offi-cer, bringing up some 
troops (to which, probably, the 
tirailleurs belonged), and halting 
where I lay, stooped down and ad- 
dressed me, saying he feared I was 
badly wounded. I replied that I 
was, and expressed a wish to be re- 
moved to the rear. He said it was 
against the order to remove even 
their own men, but that if they 
gained the day, as they probably 
would (for he understood the Duke 
of Wellington was killed, and that 
six of our battalions had sui-rendered), 
every attention in his power should 
be shown me. I complained of 
thirst, and he held his brandy bottle 
to my lips, dii'ecting one of his men 
to lay me straight on my side, and 
place a knapsack under my head. 
He then passed on into action, and 
I shall never knoAv to whose gene- 



176 Among those who were thus 
carried into the French position was 
the colonel of the 12th, the Hon. 
Frederick Ponsonby, who, like his 
namesake of the Union Brigade, was 
endeavouring to withdraw his men 
from imprudent pursuit when he was 
set upon by a body of French 
lancers, and given the first of the 
wounds that occasioned the horrible 
sufi'erings which he almost miracu- 
lously survived to relate. His story 
is so exceptional in its interest as to 
require quotation almost in full ; " In 
the melee I was disabled instantly in 
both of my arms, and followed by a 
few of my men, who were pre- 
sently cut down, no quarter being 
asked or given. I was carried on by 
my horse, till, receiving a blow on my 
head from a sabre, I was thrown sense- 
less on my face to the ground. Reco- 
vering, I raised myself a little to look 
round, when a lancer passing by ex- 
claimed, ' Tu n'es pas morf, coquin^ 
and struck his lance through my 
back. My head dropped, the blood 
gushed into my mouth, a difficulty 
of breathing came on, and I thought 
all was over. Not long afterwards 
a tirailleur came up to plunder me, 
threatening to take my life. I told 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 



269 



were stopped by coming under a brisk musketry fire Battle of 
from that left brigade {g) of Durutte's division which ^^^^'■^°°- 
had remained in the valley to support Marcognet ; and 



June 



rosity I was indebted, as I conceive, 
for my life. Of what rank lie was 
I cannot say ; lie wore a blue great- 
coat. By-and-by anotber tirailleur 
came and knelt and fired over me, 
loading and firing many times, and 
conversing with great gaiety all the 
while ; at last he ran off, saying, 
* Vous serez bien aise d^entendre 
que nous allons nous retirer ; hon 
jour, mon ami.' While the battle 
continued in that part several of the 
wounded men and dead bodies near 
me were hit with the balls, which 
came very thick in that place. To- 
wards evening, when the Prussians 
came, the continued roar of the 
cannon along their and the British 
line, growing louder and louder as 
they drew near, was the finest thing 
I ever heard. It was dusk when 
two squadrons of Prussian cavalry, 
both of them two deep, passed over 
me in full trot, lifting me from the 
groimd and tumbling me about 
cruelly. The clatter of their approach 
and the apprehensions it excited may 
be easily conceived ; had a gun come 
that way it would have done for me. 
The battle was then nearly over, or 
removed to a distance ; the cries and 
groans of the wounded all around 
me became every instant more and 
more audible, succeeding to the 
shouts, imprecations, outcries of 
' Vive VEmpereur,^ the terrible dis- 
charge of musketry and cannon, and 
every now and then intervals of si- 
lence, which were worse than the 
noise. I thought the night would 
never end. Much about this time 
I found a soldier of the Royals 
lying across my legs, who had pro- 



bably crawled thither in his agony ; 
his weight, convulsive motions, 
noises, and the air issuing through 
a wound in his side, distressed me 
greatly ; the latter circumstance 
most of all, as the case was my own. 
It was not a dark night, and the 
Prussians were wandering about to 
plunder (and the scene in Ferdincmd, 
Count Fathom, came into my mind, 
though no women, I believe, were 
there) ; several of them came and 
looked at me. About an hour be- 
fore midnight I saw a soldier in an 
English uniform coming towards me. 
He was, I suspect, on the same 
errand. He came and looked me in 
the face. I spoke instantly, telling 
him who I was, and assuring him 
of a reward if he would remain by 
me. He said that he belonged to the 
40th regiment, but had missed it. 
He released me from the dying man. 
Being unarmed, he took up a SAvord 
from the ground, and stood over me, 
pacing backward and forward, At 
8 o'clock in the morning some Eng- 
lish were seen in the distance ; he 
ran to them, and a messenger was 
sent ofi" to Hervey. A cart came for 
me. I was placed in it and carried 
to a farm-house, about a mile and a 
half distant, and laid in the bed from 
which poor Gordon (as I understood 
afterward) had been just carried 
out. The jolting of the cart and the 
difficulty of breathing were very 
painful. I had received seven 
wounds ; a surgeon slept in my room, 
and I was saved by continual bleed- 
ings, one hundred and twenty ounces 
in two days, besides the great loss 
of blood on the field." 



II. 



270 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June 18. 



II. 



Vancleleur, having accomplished the objects of his 
charge, led back his regiments to their position. ^''^= 
Merle's brigade of light cavalry from Collaert's Dutch - 
Belgian reserve division had appeared upon the brow 
of the Allied heights, and a few started to follow the 
1 2th light dragoons down the slope ; but presently 
Durutte's skirmishers began firing, and these troops 
made no further advance. = Vivian, whose hussar 
brigade held the extreme Allied left, liad ridden 
forward in person to reconnoitre, and, as soon as he 
saw the charge of the Greys up the French heights, 
had sent for his loth and i8th British hussars 



^'''^ There is a curious sileuce in 
the English accounts of this charge 
as to the doings of Durutte's division 
on the part of the French, and of 
Best's and Von Vincke's brigades, in 
the Allied line, — which is the more 
noteworthy as all other bodies of 
troops in both armies are adequately 
accouuted for. Brialmont gives this 
version of what happened, but with- 
out naming any authority : — " Du- 
rutte, less severely handled, followed 
the retrogressive movement of the 
other columns, not, however, till he 
had repulsed an attack of Vandeleur's 
light cavalry, and driven before him 
Best's and Vincke's Hanoverians." 
This, of course, refers to Durutte's 
left brigade {g), as the other was en- 
gaged with the villages on the right. 
= Hooper's only allusion to this part 
of the fight is as follows : — " On the 
extreme British left, the Hanoverian 
infantry had been menaced only by 
Durutte, who, partly occupied by 
Papelotte and La Haye, did not ven- 
ture to ascend far up the slope, but, 
being the last to move, liunc: about 
the great battery, and afforded Mar- 
cognet some flanking protection from 



Best, Vincke, and the British light 
cavalry whose squadrons were visible 
to him." = Charras says that, after 
his detachment against the villages, 
Durutte left two more battalions to 
guard the right of the grand battery, 
and advanced with the remainder of 
his division. " It reached the crest 
of the plateau in good order, passing 
the hedges which were much broken 
in this part of the enemy's line : the 
Hanoverians of Best and Vincke had 
already retreated considerably before 
it, at the moment when Vandeleur's 
light dragoons, emerging from a 
hollow in the ground, charged unex- 
pectedly. Yielding under the shock, 
it was rolled up confusedly ; but the 
disorder did not last ; and the dra- 
goons, fired upon point-blank, 
promptly withdrew to rally out of 
the fire." Vandeleur then went to 
Ponsonby's support in the valley ; 
and, Charras continues, " Durutte, 
profiting by this movement and seeing 
there was no longer any French 
column on his left, put himself in 
retreat, showing a front against the 
Hanoverians, and regained his former 
position. His loss was 600 men," 



BATTLE OF WATEKLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 27 1 

to advance, leaving the ist hussars of the German Battle of 

Legion only to protect the left flank ; and he opened a t.!^°' 

fire from two of the guns of his horse-battery, to which "'^Hj 

• • II 

the French rejoined mth so well-directed a fire that 

one of their shot passed through an ammunition-box of 

Vivian's and exploded it. By this time Vandeleur was 

returning, successful, from the valley, where, of all the 

troops of both armies lately engaged there, only the 

killed and wounded remained. With a discharge of 

rockets, directed by Major Whinyates' rocket-troops 

against some French troops endeavouring to re-form 

upon the central elevation, and which had the efiect of 

dispersing them under cover, ^^^ the second phase of the 

battle came to an end. 

The grand attack upon which Napoleon had relied 

for the overthrow of the Alhed army had conijoletely 

failed. He had meant to seize the advanced posts at 

either extremity and at the centre of their line, and also 

the Brussels highroad ; he had not gained any one of 

them, even Papelotte and -the enclosures of La Haye 

Saiute remaining, when the attack was. over, in the 

hands of the Alhes ; and he had lost 3000 prisoners, 

2 eagles, a number of killed and wounded considerably 

in excess of the loss by the Allies, and nearly 40 guns 

of his great battery had been rendered useless, while 

his strongest infantry corps had been overthrown and 

seriously disorganized, and his splendid veteran cavalry 

had proved unable to withstand the British horsemen. 

"^ Sir Augustus Frazer — who, having gone more to the left than 

as commander of the horse-artillery, the intersection of our centre by the 

had special interest in observing the pave [the Charleroi road], which was 

efficacy of the rockets, the use of in a ravine, and close by a large 

which Wellington had so irrationally building [La Haye Sainte] occupied 

opposed, wrote of this incident : — alternately by friend and foe, and 

" The rockets were used, and were a point more than ordinarily mur- 

useful, as I am told. I did not see derous. The rocket troop was 200 

their application, the Duke never yards to the left of this point." 



II. 



272 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

The Allies also — that is, the English and Germans — had 
suffered severely, though not disproportionately to the 
magnitude of the advantages they had secured, espe- 
cially of the splendid triumphs of Picton's infantry and 
the cavalry brigades. 

At Hougomont the contest had continued without 
intermission during the period of D'Erlon's attack. The 
defenders within the buildings and courts could not be 
seriously molested ; but on either flank the Fi-ench con- 
tinued to make renewed demonstrations, which were 
repelled sometimes by the fire of the batteries on the 
Allied position or of the light troops in advance of it, 
sometimes by sorties of the little garrison or of troops 
coming to their aid from the rear. After a time this 
continued pressure so weakened the defence that Byng 

2 r.M. sent down a reinforcement consisting of the remainder 
of the 2d battalion of the 3d Guards, under Col. Hep- 
burn, who took the command hitherto held by Lord 
Saltoun, whose own battalion had now completely dis- 
appeared ; and these fresh troops, eager to engage, 
made a dash from the northern hedge upon the French 
tirailleurs who then held the orchard, drove them out 
in an unrestrained stampede, and shot down many 
of them while struggling to force their way through 
gaps in the southern hedge. Thus, at about the time 

2.30. p.M D'Erlon's troops were repulsed in their attack upon the 
Allied left wing, the British Guards repossessed them- 
selves of the orchard. = An attack was now attempted 
upon them from a new direction. A column from 
Bachelu's division, whicli had left the central elevation, 
moved toward the Allied position ; but on receiving a 
musketry fire from Alten's light-troops — which had 
resumed their ground before the heights as soon as the 
cuirassiers had been driven off, — the French column 
swerved to its left and approached Hougomont. The 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— HOUGOMONT. 273 

movement was noted by Capt. Cleeves, commanding a Battle of 
6-gun battery of the King's German Legion, posted on ^^''^^^^'^ 
the brow of the height under which the cokimn must "^'^^H^ 
pass. He reserved his fire until the moment when it 
would tell most effectu.ally, and then rapidly threw in 
three rounds from each gun : the column was instantly 
dispersed with shocking slaughter, those who survived 
flying confusedly to the lower ground for shelter, leav- 
ing on the ascent they had been mounting great numbers 
of their killed and wounded. The French made a 
second attempt to advance in this direction, which was 
repulsed in exactly the same manner ; and Bachelu then 
fell back to the general French position, and established 
his division on the right of Foy's, at some distance to 
the west of the Charleroi road. = Another method of 
dealing with Hougomont was now essayed. Napoleon 
caused a battery of howitzers to be brought to bear in 
such manner that their shells should descend into the 
buildings, and presently they were on fire ^^^ — first the 2.45 p.m. 
great barn, then the outhouses north of the chateau, 
the farmer's house, and at last the chateau itself. The 
flames spread rapidly, covering the buildings and their 
garrison with dense clouds of smoke, which rolled 
heavily over the Alhed position, and soon the roofs 
began to fall in. Every possible entrance to the en- 
closures, meantime, was so closely beset by the belea- 
guering French, that the British could not for a moment 
suspend the defence to fight the flames or even to suc- 
cour the wounded, many of whom had crawled or had 

1^' Sir Augustus Frazer, who scene. Imagining that this fire 

was near Hougomont at this time, might oblige our troops to quit a 

noted the hour at which Hougomont post most material, and that it would 

was fired. " At a quarter before 3," have an effect, and possibly a great 

he wrote, "the large building burst one, on the day, I remarked the time 

out in a volume of flame, and formed by my watch." 
a striking feature in the murderous 



2 74 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



II. 



been carried into the buildings and now perished by a 
terrible death. ^^*^ The Guards, however, fought on, in 
spite of the intense heat and sufibcating smoke that 
enveloped them, and, after the fire had burned out the 
interior of the buildings, still made good their defence 
of the uninjured boundary walls. 

The Prussians, during the second attack, had been 
making their way laboriously toward the 

The Prussians. . 

French right flank, and were securing a 
foothold in the Wood of Paris. But they had not yet 
shown themselves upon the field. 

The attack had been so far a partial one that the 
Allied right centre and right wing had remained entirely 
unmolested, except for an unintermitting cannonade. 



^^° It was at this time tliat Ser- 
geant Graham, of the Coldstream 
Guards — the same whose assistance 
in closing and defending the barn- 
yard gate, is mentioned in note 
144, page 228 — asked permission 
from his commanding officer, Col. 
Macdonnell, to leave the defence of 
the garden wall for a moment. The 
officer expressed his surprise at such a 
request when they were so hard 
pressed, and Graham explained that 
he wished to rescue his brother, who 
lay wounded in the buildings. Re- 
ceiving permission, he carried the 
brother out, laid him in a ditch, and 
resumed his place in the tight. Both 
brothers survived the battle. = In 
August, 181 5, a gentleman requested 
the Dnke of Wellington to nominate 
a meritorious Waterloo soldier to 
whom he proposed paying an annuity 
of 10/. for life. The Duke desired 
Sir John Byng to name a man from 
his brigade of Guards, and the 
choice fell to Graham; but he re- 
ceived his annuity for two years 



only, owing to the bankruptcy of 
the donor. At the time Siborne 
wrote (1844), he was among the ve- 
teran inmates of the Royal Hospital 
of Kilmainham. = It was in the stay- 
ing of the general conflagration at 
the entrance of the chapel that the 
alleged miracle occurred. Siborne's 
relation of the incident is as fol- 
lows : — " Many who had sought shel- 
ter, or had been laid in the chapel, and 
whose terrors were excited as they 
heard the crashing fall of burning 
timbers or the frequent explosions of 
shells around them, at length beheld 
the flames peneti'ating the door of 
the sanctuary. The prayers that 
had been fervently, though silently, 
offered up from that holy place had 
surely been accepted — the fire, 
reaching the feet of the wooden 
image of the Saviour of mankind 
that stood above the entrance, 
seemed to feel the sacred presence ; 
for here its progress terminated, and 
this without the aid of human 
efibrts." (See note 112, page 186.) 



II. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— SECOND ATTACK. 275 

from which the unensfaged troops were sheltered to a Battle of 

, 11--11 1 T Waterloo. 

certain degree by being withdrawn to the reverse slope, 

though even here shells reached them and round shot, 
which, rebounding from the outer heights, fell among 
the reserves in the rear.^^^ Except for this artillery- 
duel, in which both sides engaged with equal warmth, 
and for the struggle that never stopped at Hougomont, 
there was a long interval after the close of the cavalry 
charges without any offensive movement by the French 
— an interval so long as to give rise to wondering 
speculation as to the nature of the next attack. During 
this time of inaction a partial re-arrangement of the 
Allied left wing was made — Sir John Lambert's brigade 
coming into the front line between Kempt and the 
Charleroi road ; Pack's and Best's brigades and also 
Vandeleur's horsemen closing toward their right, so as 
to fill the gap left by the Dutch -Belgians ; 3 companies 
of Kempt's riflemen re-occupied the sand-pit and its 
knoll and hedge ; and 2 fresh companies from the 
ist light battahon of the German Legion reinforced the 
4 companies that already held La Haye Sainte. 

1^1 Of tlie surroundings of the they might die. Then, again, the 

second line even when sheltered from wounded horses, of which multitudes 

fire, a private of dragoons so stationed wandered all over the field, troubled 

wrote, " "We stood exactly on such us. They would come back, some 

a spot as enabled us to behold the with broken legs, others trailing after 

last struggles of the wounded, whose them their entrails, which the round 

strength only sufficed to carry them shot had knocked out, and, forcing 

a few yards to the rear. There was themselves between our files, seemed 

a long sort of ditch or drain some to solicit the aid which no one had 

way behind us, toward which these time to aff'ord." It can scarcely be 

poor fellows betook themselves by wondered that the beholders of such 

scores ; and ere three hours were scenes disappeared from the rear of 

passed it was choked with the bodies the army in great numbers, 
of those who lay down there that 



l2 



276 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

iterioo ^^^- Cavalry Attacks upon the Allied Right Wing. 

le 18. The French were long in renewing offensive opera- 

III. tions, because it had become necessary to arrange an 
entirely new plan of action. The futility of the original 
design — that of crushing Wellington's left wing, and so 
seizing the Brussels road — had been demonstrated by 
the signal repulse of D'Erlon's infantry ; and the dis- 
organized condition in which it had reassembled ren- 
dered it unfit for immediate use, and forbade any 
demonstration in this part of the field. It thus became 
necessary to shift the attack to the Allied right wing. 
Here, accordingly, renewed efforts were to be made by 
the infantry, at either extremity, to carry Hougomont 
and La Haye Sainte — the capture of which might be 
followed by the breaking of the Allied centre, — while 
between these points an overwhelming onset of cavalry 
was to be directed against the Allied line. The force 
entrusted to Ney for this purpose consisted in the first 
instance of Milhaud's entire corps of cuirassiers, 2 1 
squadrons strong ; but almost at the outset Lefebvre- 
Desnouettes's light cavalry of the Guard — 7 squadrons 
of lancers and 12 of chasseurs — were drawn into its 
support ; and ultimately both Kellermann's and Guyot's 
corps of heavy cavalry took part in the charges — an 
aggregate strength of 77 squadrons, or 12,000 men, 
the most numerous and splendidly equipped body of 
horsemen that had ever charged in a mass in European 
warfare. But, as in the previous attack, Ney was 
impatient to end the battle at a stroke, and over-con- 
fident that he had provided such means to accomplish 
his purpose as no power of the enemy could withstand ; 
and, as he had previously advanced his infantry columns 
without cavalry in close support, so now he made ready 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIRD ATTACK. 



277 



to launch his apparently irresistible squadrons without Battle of 
infantry who should hold and follow up whatever 
advantages the horsemen might gain.^^^ 



June 18. 



III. 



^^~ Faulty as was tlie arrange- 
ment of sending the cavalry to 
charge without infantry supports, 
and ruinous as were the consequen- 
ces, there can be no excuse for the 
manner in which it has been sought 
to relieve Napoleon of all blame in 
the matter, and charge it wholly 
upon Ney's headlong rashness. To 
this end, Thiers — whose whole ac- 
count of the battle is muddled and 
without sequence — transfers the 
time of those cavalry charges to a 
later period of the action than that 
in which they occurred. He puts 
them after the appearance of the 
Prussians in the field, and after the 
taking of La Haye Sainte by the 
French infantry, whereas neither of 
these things occurred until the 
charges were far advanced. Napo- 
leon, he represents, was in the eastern 
part of the field, directing Lobau's 
resistance to Biilow, and in ignorance 
what drafts Ney was making upon 
the cavalry until it was too late to 
recede. Ney, Thiers says, had already 
taken La Haye Sainte, sent to Napo- 
leon for reinforcements, and, " his 
countenance glowing with heroic 
ardour, he repeatedly said to Gen. 
Drouot, that could he get some addi- 
tional troops he Would secure a bril- 
liant victory and totally repulse the 
British army." But this demand, 
Thiers proceeds, reached the Empe- 
ror when he was using all his avail- 
able infantry against the Prussians, 
and, accordingly, "Napoleon sent 
word to Ney that it would be impos- 
sible to send any infantry, but that 
he would send him Milhaud's cui- 



rassiers provisionally, to occupy the 
space between La Haye Sainte and 
the wood of Goumont [Hougomont], 
and desired him to await his orders 
before commencing the attack that 
was to decide the fate of the day." 
Hereupon, the story goes on, Ney 
ordered up Milhaud, and " as Gen. 
Milhaud passed before Lefebvre- 
Desnouettes, who commanded the 
light cavalry of the Guard, he 
clasped his hand and said, ' I am 
going to charge : support me.' Le- 
febvre-Desnouettes, whose valour 
needed no fresh incitement, believed 
that it was by order of the Emperor 
he was desired to support the cui- 
rassiers, and following their move- 
ment, he took up a position behind 
them. . . . When Ney saw such a 
noble body of cavalry at his disposal 
his confidence and daring redoubled," 
and, " still elated by the combat of 
La Haye Sainte," he began the ca- 
vah'y charges. Through the false 
order of events thus described, Thiers, 
following Napoleon, begins the ela- 
boration of his accusation that Ney 
destroyed the cavalry while " Napo- 
leon was so preoccupied vdth the 
attack of the Prussians that he sus- 
pended every other action but that 
directed against them." = The impor- 
tant fact to be borne in mind is that 
La Haye Sainte had not been taken, 
and the Prussians had not begun 
their attack, until after both Mil- 
haud and Lefebvre-Desnouettes were 
engaged in their charges on the 
Allied squares. Napoleon doubtless 
knew all about the preparation for 
the cavalry attack, though the Prus- 



2/8 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 

The cannonade had never ceased during this period 
of preparation ; but, as all was made ready for the 
attack, it was suddenly increased to an unparalleled 
intensity. The French light batteries were pushed 
forward in advance, and reinforced by the heavy 
1 2-pound guns of the Imperial Guard ; and this whole 
force of artillery, greatly superior to that of the Allies, 
was so posted that its fire could be concentrated upon 
any point of Wellington's hne. " The guns having once 
obtained the required range," Siborne says, " were fired 
without intermission. . . . The oldest soldiers had never 
witnessed a cannonade conducted with such fury, with 
such desperation. The Allied columns of infantry were 
lying down upon the ground to shelter themselves 
as much as possible from the iron shower that fell 
fast and heavily — round shot tearing frightful rents 
directly through their masses or ploughing up the 
earth beside them ; shells bursting in the midst of the 
serried columns and scattering destruction in their fall, 
or previously burying themselves in the soft loose soil 
to be again forced upwards in eruptions of iron, mud, 
and stones, that fell amongst them hke volcanic frag- 
ments." The British and German artillerymen, posted 
along the front of the position and before the Wavre 
road, stood firmly to their guns and directed them with 
great precision ; but the pieces were inferior both in 

sians may have diverted his attention gone or was about to go to the right 
from its later stages. The lack of flank against Biilow ; and the Guard 
supporting infantry is to be explaiaed Napoleon never suffered to be 
on the ground that there was none touched until the last emergency, 
available — Jerome's and Foy's divi- This accounts for the entire French 
sions had their hands full with the infantry except those engaged on 
foolish assault on Hougomont ; Don- the right flank and the division of 
zelot's troops were busy at La Haye Bachelu : this division Ney ulti- 
Sainte ; D'Erlon's corps was in pro- mately did combine with the opera- 
cess of reconstruction after its over- tions of his cavalry, 
throw ; Lobau's corps had either 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIRD ATTACK. 279 

number and weight to the enemy's, and official neg- Battle of 
licence had left g-uns and men without any of the ' 

June 18 

protection which should have been afforded by earth- '■ 

works. ^^^= The attack was first made at either extreme 
by the infantry — redoubled exertions being put forth 
to carry Hougomont, now in flames and still phed 
by the howitzers ; while in the centre Donzelot's 
columns moved against La Haye Sainte. Baring this 
time made no attempt to hold the orchard, but limited 
his defence to the buildings, court, and garden. The 
rifle balls of the Germans told tremendously upon the 
advancing masses of the French ; but these rushed 
through the fire up to the walls, seized the rifles 
through the loop-holes, and sought to pull them from 
the hands of the defenders. They assailed every gate 
and doorway in the enclosure, especially the extem- 
porised barrier at the great western entrance to the 
barn, of which the door had been destroyed. Here the 
French pushed forward desperately, but the excellent 
fire of the riflemen did not allow one of the invaders to 
pass the threshold, beside which 1 7 dead bodies were 
afterwards found lying. Thus the contest was raging 
about La Haye Sainte, both parties showing the utmost 
determination, while the grand attack was in progress. = 
On the French extreme left also a demonstration was 
made, in advance of the general attack. Fire's lancers 
were seen moving forward ; and Wellington, anxious for 
his detached forces at Braine-la-Leude, desired Lord 
Uxbridge to counteract them. This he did by sending 
Grant, with 2 regiments of light cavalry from his 
own brigade and i from Dornberg's of the King's 
German Legion, to watch the operations of the enemy ; 
but no conflict resulted from this, and Grant, presently 
becoming satisfied that the French horse were only 

i^^ See text, and note 128, page 206. 



III. 



280 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of making a diversion, returned with the greater portion 

Waterloo r- i ■ \c n • • 

, 01 his following and took part in the general action 

June 18. " -•- " 

With the French assaihng cavalry. 

Milhaud's cuirassiers, followed by the light cavalry 
of the Guard, had meanwhile put themselves in motion. 
As they were drawn up on the eastern side of the Char- 
leroi road, they were obliged in the first instance to cross 
that road and obhque considerably to their left, so as to 
take a position facing the opening between Hougomont 
and La Haye Saiiite — a position from which the forma- 
tion of the ground enabled them to advance directly upon 
the Allied heights without descending into the valley. ■'■^* 
The movement was made in beautiful order. " As 
they began to advance," says Siborne, " the first hne of 
cuirassiers shone in burnished steel, relieved by black 
horsehair-crested helmets ; next came the red lancers 
of the Guard, in their gaudy uniform, and mounted on 
richly caparisoned steeds, their fluttering lance-flags 
heightening the brilliancy of their display ; whilst the 
third line, comprising the chasseurs of the Guard, in 
their rich costume of green and gold, with fur-trimmed 
pelisses a la hussard^ and black bear-skin shakos, com- 
pleted the gorgeous yet harmonious colouring of this 

^^^ The spurs from the central front of 1,000 yards that the great 

elevation, which formed a continuous charges of the French cavalry were 

and almost level approach from La made, consequently 1,000 horsemen 

Belle Alliance to the centre of the would have filled the whole of it ; 

right wing of the Allied army, have which proves that not more than, 

been described on page 183. This say, 500 men could have been in 

peculiar conformation must be borne their front line, as they had to keep 

in mind to render the charges of the at some distance from tbe fire of 

cavalry intelligible. = There must also both Hougomont and La Haye 

be recollected the explanation quoted Sainte, and they charged with inter- 

from Kennedy (note 120, p. 199) of vals: 12,000 cavalry, therefore, on 

the space occupied by troops in line. this front, might charge in 24 suc- 

He adds, " The distance between cessive lines, supposing each line to 

Hougomont and La Haye Sainte be a single rank." 
is i,oco yards ... It was on this 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIED ATTACK. 



251 



June i8. 
III. 



military spectacle." Upon the spot menaced by the Battle of 
advancing enemy — nearly that where the Belgian Hon 
now stands — were gathered Gen. Alten and the staff of 
the 3d division, anxious to learn what was portended 
by the tremendous artillery fire ; and as soon as the 
cavalry were seen to be in motion the division was 
ordered to assume the formation which had been 
devised in anticipation of this mode of attack. " Our 
surprise," says Kennedy, who was one of Alten's staff, 
" at being so soon attacked by this great and mag- 
nificent force of cavalry was accompanied with the 
opinion that the attack was premature, and that we 
were perfectly prepared and secure against its effects, so 
far as any military operation can be calculated upon." ^^^ 



^^' This preparation is best ac- 
counted for and described by Ken- 
nedy himself, who designed it. 
" When, on the morning of the 1 8th 
of June," he sa,js, " the enemy's 
formation clearly indicated an attack 
on the British position, General the 
Prince of Orange, who commanded 
the corps, and General Baron Alten, 
who commanded the 3d division, 
discussed for some time how the 
division should be formed in order 
of battle. The Duke of Wellington 
ha\'ing joined them during the dis- 
cussion, and being referred to, re- 
plied shortly, ' Form in the usual 
way,' and rode on. This did not 
solve the difficulty, as it was felt that 
the position of the division exposed 
it greatly to the fire of the enemy's 
artillery, and to the action of his 
numerous and formidable cavalry. 
The discussion having been continued 
for some time after the Duke had 
gone, and no determination arrived 
at, I asked Gen. Alten if he would 
allow me to form the division. To this 



he at once and unqualifiedly assented, 
upon which I instantly left him, 
and proceeded with the formation. 
. . . The principles and considera- 
tions which guided me in making 
the formation were as follows : — 
The French cavalry had, on the 1 6th, 
proved itseK very formidable at 
Quatre Bras in its attacks upon the 
3d division. That cavalry in im- 
mensely augmented numbers was 
now forming opposite to the division, 
and the ground between them and 
us presented no natural obstacle 
whatever. It was at the same time 
evident, from the way in which the 
French guns were taking up their 
ground, that the division woidd be 
exposed to a severe artillery fire. 
It was, therefore, of the highest im- 
portance that the formation of the 
division should be such that its pass- 
ing from line into a formation for 
resisting cavalry should be as rapid 
as possible, and that the re-formation 
of the line should also be made 
rapidly. To carry these views into 



2«2 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of The 3d division was at once formed to resist cavalry ; 
and on its right the Guards, together with some of the 



June 18. 



III. 



1 Sfi^lf^'t 



Saints 













Maitland's ist br'i- 



^^-d^^'-^'"^ Sade of Guards, and fi^ 
^ r ^"^ Brunswick troops, 






were in this space, «j 
also in squares. "^ 



Cdvci^^^ , 






Brunswick troops, formed squares ; so tliat the space 



effect the strong battalions formed 
each an oblong on the two centre 
companies, and when the battalions 
were weak two were joined, the 
right-hand battalion of the two 
forming left in front, and the left- 
hand battalion right in front, each 
in column of companies. The fronts 
of the oblongs were formed by four 
companies, and the rear faces of the 
oblongs were of the same strength, 
and the sides of one company each, 
which were formed by the outward 
wheel of subdivisions. . . . The front 
line consisted of five of these oblongs, 
and the second line of four of them, 
and they were so placed as to be 
as nearly as possible in exche- 
quer, that is, placed in such a way 
that the oblongs of the second line 



stood opposite to the openings of the 
first Une. . . . These arrangements 
were only in preparation [when the 
battle began] ; the division remained 
deployed in two lines, its proper order 
of battle, but ready to form in ob- 
longs when such formation might be 
required ; while merely under the 
continued severe cannonade the di- 
vision lay down in line." Kennedy 
further explains that, owing to the 
deficiency of troops in the 3d di- 
vision — which consisted of 6,000 
men in three brigades — Gen. Kruse, 
commanding the Nassau troops in 
the second line, participated in this 
formation. The plan which illus- 
trates it is copied from Kennedy's 
sketch, which he made on the morn- 
ing after the battle, 



BATTLE OP WATERLOO— THIRD ATTACK. 283 

between the Charleroi and Nivelles roads was thus Battle of 

filled up ; while the artillery was before the infantry ' ' 

on the front slope. The cuirassiers rode forward in '- 

lines of columns, at first slowly, but with increased 
speed as they reached the point where their own sup- 
porting batteries suspended their fire and that of the 
Allies began to tell among their ranks. The grape- 
shot from Cleeves' and Lloyd's guns brought down 
many of them, but did not check their progress ; they 
came on more rapidly, with their shouts of " Vive 
VEmpei^eur ! " until they were within about 40 yards of 
the guns ; then the Allied artillerymen delivered with 
tremendous effect a last discharge from every gun, and 
withdrew to the shelter of the squares.^^^ The cuiras- 
siers were somewhat staggered by this salvo, and their 
order was broken, but they never faltered ; the charge 
sounded, and they dashed into the batteries, sending up 
cries of triumph at having captured them, and pressed 
onward to charge the squares beyond, in the full 
assurance of victory — an assurance shared by Lefebvre- 
Desnouettes's fight horsemen in the rear, who now 
followed with the utmost impetuosity, to aid in the 

1^^ This abandonment of tlie gims tremely laudable practice, if the in- 
by the artillerymen was part of the fantry be properly arranged to cor- 
plan laid down in advance by the respond with it." It is to be re- 
Duke of Wellington. It is thus marked that neither in this nor in 
spoken of by Baron Muffling in his any of the charges that followed is 
report on the battle : — " The English there any mention, except by Victor 
artillery have a rule not to remove Hugo, of the French spiking or 
their guns when attacked by cavalry otherwise disabling the guns while 
in a defensive position. The field- they had possession of them. The 
pieces are worked till the last mo- horses, of course, had been pre- 
ment, and the men then throw them- viously removed. = The charge was 
selves into the nearest square, bear- led by Ney in person. " The Mar- 
ing off the implements they use in shal of the Empire," says Oharras, 
serving the guns. If the attack is "had not forgotten the brilliant 
repulsed, the artillerymen hurry back cavalry general of the Republic, 
to their pieces, to fire on the re- Ney put himself at the head of the 
treating enemy. This is an ex- cuirassed squadrons." 



June i8. 
III. 



284 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of anticipated rout and pursuit of the infantry in the 

Waterloo. . 

squares. But the squares gave no signs of wavering — 
they were " prepared," the front rank kneehng, the 
second at the charge, the third and fourth ready to 
fire when the time came. The fire was reserved until 
the enemy was within about 30 paces, when — though 
many, especially of those to whom the experience was 
novel, aimed too high — it threw the approaching 
squadrons into disorder, and had the efiect of causing 
the horsemen who confronted the face of a square to 
swerve to the right hand or the left and pass into 
the intervals between the squares — that is, into the line 
of fire from another face. Here, as at Quatre Bras, 
the French cavalry never actually rushed in upon a 
square, to break it ; and none was even shaken ; but — 
as Kennedy, who was within a square, says — " Although 
they did not gallop in mass right on the bayonets of 
the infantry, they made every other effort to enter the 
oblongs, by firing into them, cutting aside the bayonets, 
and surrounding the oblongs to obtain a point of 
entrance." ^^^ By thus riding around and between the 

^^^ Another who was within the to go on, they were ashamed to re- 
squares, an officer of engineers, gives tire. Oui- men soon discovered that 
his experience in detail : — " The first they had the best of it ; and ever 
time a body of cuirassiers approached afterwards, when they heard the 
the square into which I had ridden, sound of cavalry approaching, ap- 
themeu — all young soldiers — seemed peared to consider the circumstance 
to be alarmed. They fired high, and as a pleasant change ; for the enemy's 
with little effect ; and in one of the guns suspended their fire regularly 
angles there was just as muchhesita- as the horsemen began to crown the 
tion as made me feel exceedingly ridge, and we suffered so much from 
uncomfortable ; but it did not last their artillery practice that we were 
long. No actual dash was made glad when anything put a temporary 
upon us. Now and then an individ- stop to it. As to the squares them- 
ual more daring than the rest would selves, they were as firm as rocks ; 
ride up to the bayonets, wave his and the jokes which the men cracked 
sword about, and bully ; but the while loading and firing were very 
mass held aloof, pulling up within comical." = It is remarkable that all 
five or six yards, as if, though afi'aid the charges of this veteran French 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIRD ATTACK. 



285 



squares, and especially because of the increasing ob- 
structions from the bodies of fallen men and horses, the 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June 



cavalry failed to break a single 
Allied square. Apprehensions were 
felt about the steadiness of some of 
the Brunswick battalions, raw troops, 
which had been brought up into the 
extreme right of the first line to fill 
the gap left by advancing Byng's 
Guards into Hougomont ; and the 
23d British regiment, of Mitchell's 
brigade, was interposed between their 
squares to give them confidence ; but 
these young Brunswickers met the 
onset of the cavalry with all tlie 
firmness of veterans. Oapt. Pringle's 
account of the battle, written shortly 
afterwards, observes, "The French 
accounts say that several squares 
were broken and standards taken, 
which is decidedly false : on the con- 
trary, the small squares always re- 
pulsed the cavalry, whom they gene- 
rally allowed to advance close to 
their bayonets before they fired." 
Kennedy, in like manner, says, " In 
no instance was there one of them 
penetrated or overthrown." Thiers, 
however, knows better. He gives 
this story : — " Having passed the 
line of guns, and seeing Alten's in- 
fantry apparently in retreat, he 
[Ney] sent his cuirassiers after them. 
These brave horsemen, heedless of 
the balls raining around, galloped 
after Alten's division, broke the 
squares, and commenced a furious 
slaughter. . . . Several battalions of 
the German and Hanoverian legions 
were overpowered, trodden under 
foot, put to the sword, and deprived 
of their standards. Our cuirassiers, 
the oldest soldiers of the army, 
glutted their rage by a merciless 
massacre of the English." This was 



in the first charge ; subsequently, ac- 
cording to Thiers, Ney's reinforced 
cavalry " attacked and broke the 
enemy's first line. Alten's unfortu- 
nate diAdsion, already so ill-treated, 
was now entirely cut to pieces, to- 
gether with the 69th English regi- 
ment , . . Ney . . . advanced on 
the second line. . . . Several squares 
were broken. . . . The heavy cavalry 
of the Guard did wonders, breaking 
the squares . . . Kellermann's carbi- 
neers . . . made fresh breaches in 
the second line of the British infan- 
try, broke several squares, cut the 
men in jaieces, even under the fire of 
the third line, and destroyed three- 
fourths of that second human wall, 
without being able to reach or touch 
the third." It is interesting to test 
Thiers' statements by applying 
figures in the rare cases when he is 
definite enough to render this pos- 
sible. He refrains, for instance, from 
saying how many squares were 
broken, but makes it appear that 
somewhere from 30 to 40 so suffered ; 
there were in fact fewer than 20 
squares to begin with, and of these 
not one was broken. He tells us, 
again, that Alten's division and the 
British 69th regiment were "now 
entirely cut to pieces : " Alten's divi- 
sion really suffered very much more 
from its defence of La Haye Sainte 
than it did from the cavalry attacks, 
but its total loss for the day was 
2,121 men, out of a total strength of 
6,970, so that it was not " entirely " 
destroyed ; the 69th regiment began 
the campaign 516 strong, lost 152 at 
Quatre Bras through the Prince of 
Orange's blunder in deploying it be- 



lli. 



June i8. 



2^6 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of order of the assailants was lost, regiments and squad- 
w aterioo . ^,^^^g Were intermixed, and tlieir power to act as a 
coherent force was gone, when the Allied cavalry made 
^^^' ready to charge them. These, though comparatively 
few in number, had the advantage of being in perfect 
order, and could, moreover, select the most favourable 
point for attacking. Here and there they encountered 
some isolated attempts at resistance by the French 
horsemen ; but they everywhere soon succeeded in 
forcing them to retire, and drove them confusedly from 
the plateau — their flight being hastened by the fire 
from the Allied batteries, which were promptly manned 
by the artillerymen emerging from the squares. The 
Allied cavalry had been instructed to stay their pursuit 
as soon as the repulse of the enemy had been effected ; 
but, as usual, the excitement proved too much for 
them, and many — especially of Dornberg's 23d British 
light dragoons — rode after the cuirassiers and lancers 
as far as the French position, and even attacked the 
batteries on the central elevation ; and for this temerity 
they suffered severely before they could accomplish 
their return. On the Allied right, Dornberg's ist light 
dragoons of the German Legion pursued an outnum- 
bering body of lancers, who presently rallied and 
became the pursuers ; but as they followed up the 
ridge behind Hougomont they came under the fire both 
of the squares and of Bolton's foot-battery, which, 

fore an attack of cavalry, entered explicit, says in the matter of the 
Waterloo with 364 men, and lost on squares, " The cuirassiers annihilated 
this day just 84. As to the " third 7 squares out of 1 3, captured or 
line " of which Thiers frequently spiked 60 guns, and took 6 English 
speaks, there was no such thing, regimental flags." Thiers so invari- 
except a few battalions of Kruse's ably gives his countrymen the ad- 
Nassau troops in reserve, whose pre- vantage in every detail of this battle 
sence was not required in the second that they must be greatly puzzled to 
line. = Victor Hugo, about as accu- understand how, in the aggregate, 
rate historically as Thiers, but more they came to be defeated. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THlHD ATTACK. 



287 



posted on the west of the Nivelles road, fired through 
the interval between tlie squares in its front and swept 
this approach — an assistance most essential to the 
Alhed cavalry, because Grant's departure to follow 
Pire had left only the Brunswick horsemen, the 7th 
hussars, and the ist light dragoons to support all that 
part of the front hue from Alten's division to the 
Nivelles road. Thus was completed the repulse of the 
first charge of the French cavalry. ^^^ Again their 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 

June 18. 

III. 



^^^ It is only to the opening of 
this first charge that it is possible to 
refer Victor Hugo's -wonderful story 
of cuirassiers swallowed up by hun- 
dreds in a chasm, because it was only 
then that Milhaud's corps moved 
from the position he designates. Re- 
ferring to its author's sinister de- 
scription of the Wavre road and its 
"hollow-way" (note 109, page 180), 
and to the incident of some of Kel- 
lermann's cuirassiers falling into the 
sand-pit beside the Oharleroi road 
(note 166, page 256), the story in 
Les Miser ahles is here given in full: — 

"A SURPBISE. 

" They were three thousand five 
hundred in number, and formed a 
front a quarter of a league in length ; 
they were gigantic men mounted on 
colossal horses. They formed twenty- 
six squadrons, and had behind them, 
as a support, Lefebvre-Desnouettes's 
division, composed of the one hun- 
di'ed and six gendarmes, the chasseurs 
of the Guard, eleven himdred and 
ninety-seven sabres, and the lancers 
of the Guard, eight hundred and 
eighty lances. They wore a helmet 
without a plume, and a cuirass of 
wrought steel, and were armed with 
pistols and a straight sabre. In the 
morning the whole army had ad- 



mired them when they came up, at 
nine o'clock, with bugles sounding, 
while all the bands played Veillons 
au salut de VJEminre, in close column 
with one battery on their flank, 
the others in their centre, and de- 
ployed in two ranks, and took their 
place in that powerful second line, 
so skilfully formed by Napoleon, 
which, having at its extreme left 
Kellermann's cuirassiers, and on its 
extreme right IMilhaud's cuirassiers, 
seemed to be endowed with two 
wings of steel. = The aide-de-camp 
Bernard carried to them the Empe- 
ror's order : Ney drew his sabre and 
placed himself at their head, and the 
mighty squadrons started. Then a 
formidable spectacle was seen: the 
whole of this cavalry, with raised 
sabres, with standards flying, and 
formed in columns of division, de- 
scended, with one movement and as 
one man, with the precision of a 
bronze battering-ram opening a 
breach, the hiU of La Belle Alliance. 
They entered the formidable valley 
in which so many men had already 
fallen, disappeared in the smoke, 
and then, emerging from the gloom, 
reappeared on the other side of the 
valley, still in a close compact 
column, mounting at a trot, under a 
tremendous canister fire, the frio-ht- 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



batteries resumed the tremendous cannonade, which 
was far more destructive to the infantry than the onset 



III. ful muddy incline of tlie plateau of 
Mont St. Jean. They ascended it, 
stern, threatening, and imperturbable; 
between the breaks in the artillery 
and musketry fire, the colossal tramp 
could be heard. As they formed two 
divisions, they were in two columns : 
Wautier's division was on the right, 
Delort's on the left. At the distance 
it appeared as if two immense steel 
lizards were crawling towards the 
crest of the plateau ; they traversed 
the battlefield like a flash. = Nothing 
like it had been seen since the cap- 
ture of the great redoubt of the I^Ios- 
kowa by the heavy cavalry : Murat 
was missing, but Ney was there. It 
seemed as if this mass had become a 
monster, and had but one soul ; each 
squadron undulated, and swelled like 
the rings of a polype. This could be 
seen through a vast smoke which 
was rent asunder at intervals ; it was 
a pell-mell of helmets, shouts, and 
sabres, a stormy bounding of horses 
among cannon, and a disciplined and 
terrible array ; while above it all 
flashed the cuirasses like the scales 
of the dragon. Such narratives seem 
to belong to another age ; something 
like this vision was doubtless trace- 
able in the old Orphean epics de- 
scribing the men-horses, the ancient 
hippantropists, those Titans with 
human faces and equestrian chest, 
whose gallop escaladed Olympus, — 
horrible, sublime, invulnerable beings, 
gods and brutes. It was a curious 
numerical coincidence that twenty- 
six battalions were preparing to re- 
ceive the charge of these twenty-six 
squadrons. Behind the crest of the 
plateau, in the shadow of the masked 
battery, thirteen English squares. 



each of two battalions, and formed 
two deep, with seven men in the 
first lines, and six in the second, 
were waiting, calm, dumb, and mo- 
tionless, with their muskets, for 
what was coming. They did not 
see the cuirassiers, and the cuirassiers 
did not see them : they merely heard 
this tide of men ascending. They 
heard the swelling sound of three 
thousand horses, the alternating and 
symmetrical somid of the hoof, the 
clang of the cuirasses, the clash of 
the sabres, and a species of great and 
formidable breathing. There was a 
long and temible silence, and then a 
long file of raised arms brandishing 
sabres, and helmets, and bugles, and 
standards, and three thousand heads 
with great moustaches, shouting, 
' Vive VEmpei-ew,^ appeared above 
the crest. The whole of this cavalry 
debouched on .the plateau, and it was 
like the commencement of an earth- 
quake. = All at once, terrible to re- 
late, the head of the column of cui- 
rassiers facing the English left reared 
with a fearful clamour. On reaching 
the culminating point of the crest, 
furious and eager to make their ex- 
terminating dash on the English 
squares and guns, the cuirassiers 
noticed between them and the Eng- 
lish a trench, a grave. It was the 
hollow road of Ohain. It was 
a frightful moment, — the ravine was 
there unexpected, yawning, almost 
precipitous, beneath the horses' feet, 
and with a depth of twelve feet be- 
tween ils two sides. The second 
rank thrust the first into the abyss ; 
the horses reared, fell back, slipped 
with all four feet in the air, crushing 
and throwing their riders. There 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIRD ATTACK. 289 

of the horsemen ; and, as before, the British and Battle of 
German gunners rephed effectively. = The cuirassiers 
and lancers hastened to sjet into order, as if indio-nant 



"&' 



at the unwonted experience of a fruitless charge. The 
same 40 squadrons were to attack again ; but this time 
a portion were to be restrained from the indiscriminate 
onset which had been productive of such confusion, 
and were kept well in hand to encounter the Allied 
cavalry when they should move against the squadrons 
broken among the squares. The scenes of the former 
charge were repeated — the dash through the battery 
fire, the taking of the guns, the withdrawal of the 
artillerymen, the unflinching steadiness of the squares, 
the vain assault upon them, and the disorder and loss of 
those who made it. Then, when these were exhausted, 
their reserved cavalry came forward in good order to 
attack the second Allied line, consisting of cavalry — of 
the remnant of Somerset's Household Brigade, in rear 
of Ompteda's squares ; Dornberg's 23d British light 
dragoons, with Trip's Dutch-Belgian carbineers (per- 
fectly useless) behind them, both in rear of Halkett's 

was no means of escaping ; the entire of Oliain. These figures probably 

column was one huge projectile. The comprise the other corpses cast into 

force acquired to crush the English, the ravine on the day after the 

crushed the French, and the inexor- battle. Napoleon, before ordering 

able ravine would not yield till it this charge, had surveyed the 

was filled up. Men and horses rolled ground, but had been unable to see 

into it pell-mell, crushing each other this " hollow-way," which did not 

and making one large charnel-house form even a ripple on the crest of the 

of the gulf; and when this grave was plateau. Warned, however, by the 

full of living men, the rest passed little white chapel which marks its 

over them. Nearly one-third of juncture with the Nivelles road, he 

Dubois' brigade rolled into this had asked Lacoste a question, pro- 

abj^ss. This commenced the loss of bably as to whether there was any 

the battle. A local tradition, which obstacle. The guide answered, No, 

evidently exaggerates, says that two and we might almost say that Napo- 

thousand horses and fifteen hundred leon's catastrophe was brought about 

men were buried in the " hollow-way " by a peasant's shake of the head." 



Jnne 18. 
III. 



290 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June 18. 



III. 



5 til British brigade of infantry; to their right the 
Brunswick hussars and lancers; and, next to the 
Nivelles road, Grant's 7th British hussars. The Allied 
horsemen did not wait for the attack, but met it ; and a 
close and obstinately disputed struggle ensued, gallantly 
contested on either side. But the French had not 
only their immediate opponents to deal with : a severe 
musketry fire was poured into them from the squares 
on either flank ; and they were at length compelled 
to go about and retire, pursued again into the valley 
by the victors.^^^=This pursuit, which terminated the 



^^^ Thiers' account of tliis com- 
bat iDetween the French and Allied 
cavalry is as follows : — " All are in- 
termingled ; a thousand hand-to- 
hand fights commenced with swords 
and lances by the horsemen of both 
nations. Ours had the adA^antage, 
and a portion of the English cavalry 
strewed the ground. Those who 
escaped took refuge behind the 
squares of the English infantry, and 
our horsemen were again stopped in 
their onward course, to the great 
detriment of the light cavalry of the 
Guard, who, being unprovided with 
cuirasses, lost a number of men and 
horses. Ney had two horses killed 
under him during this outburst of 
furious human passion. His coat 
and hat were riddled mth balls, 
but, still invulnerable, the bravest of 
the brave was still determined to 
keep his oath and break the British' 
lines." = The Erckmann - Chatrian 
conscript gives this account : — " I 
could see through the smoke that the 
English gunners had abandoned their 
cannon, and were running away 
with their horses, and that our 
cuirassiers had immediately fallen 
upon the squares which were marked 
out on the hillside bv the zis-zao- 



line of their fire. = Nothing could be 
heard but a grand uproar of cries, 
incessant clashing of arms, and neigh- 
ing of horses, varied with the dis- 
charge from time to time, and then 
new shouts, new tumults, and fresh 
groans. A score of horses with their 
manes erect rushed through the 
thick smoke which settled around 
us like shadows ; some of them drag- 
ging their riders with one foot caught 
in the stirrup. . . . At each new 
charge it seemed as if the squares 
must be overthrown ; but when the 
trumpet sounded the signal for rally- 
ing, and the squadrons rushed pell- 
mell back to the edge of the plateau 
to re-form, pursued by the showers 
of shot, there were the great red 
lines steadfast as walls in the smoke." 
= Jomini, with justifiable pride in 
his countrymen, says of these charges 
in his Smmnary of the Campaign : — 
"It would be necessary to borrow 
the most poetic forms and expressions 
of an epic to depict with any truth- 
fulness the glorious efforts of this 
cavalry, and the impassive perse- 
verance of its adversaries. We can 
be.sides judge what would have been 
the result of these brilliant charges 
had Lobau's corps and the Young 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIRD ATTACK. 



291 



second of the cavalry charges, brought a momentary Battle of 
rehef to the defenders of the AUied outposts. At ''^^—' 

June 18. 



Guard been able to follow the cuiras- 
siers iu theii' course, instead of being 
engaged toward Plancbenoit, making 
bead against tbe Prussians." Else- 
where Jomini says, in a foot-note : 
"Tbe Duke of WeUington bimself 
assiu'edme,attbe Congress of Verona, 
tbat be bad never seen anything more 
admirable in war than the ten or 
twelve reiterated charges of the 
French cuirassiers upon tbe troops 
of all arms." = Charras says of tbe 
second series of charges: "Tbe shock 
was terrible, according to the unani- 
mous testimony of tbe actors and 
witnesses of this grand drama ; but 
it was not in excess of the stubborn 
courage of Wellington and bis sol- 
diers. Vainly Ney engaged bis very 
last squadron, even tbe brigade 
of carbineers left in reserve ; vainly 
the light batteries poured their fire 
upon the battalions in tbe first line ; 
vaiiily were whole squares taken in 
rear, dispersed, crushed, Alten's 
whole division tumbled back upon 
the Brussels road ; vainly were the 
numerous [Allied] squadrons tbat 
came to tbe rescue of their infantry 
sabred, mutilated, shattered. Tbe 
British flag continued to float above 
tbe fatal plateau ; and after a strife 
of nearly two hours, a strife un- 
exampled in tbe annals of war, 
our cavalry, disorganised by inces- 
sant efforts, by tbe chances of tbe 
melee, their arms fatigued by dealing 
so many blows, their horses lamed, 
harassed by such violent movement 
over tbe miry soil, began to dissolve, 
fuming with rage, and re-descend the 
slope they bad climbed with the con- 
viction of success. This movement. 



it has been said, worked itself, in 
some fashion, as the result of indi- 
vidual exhaustion. It was that there 
are bmits to the power of the most 
vigorous organizations. . . . Ney 
bad left, stretched upon the plain, 
a third of bis men and horses, and 
those who remained were little ca- 
pable of further efforts. Among the 
horsemen who had returned many 
were dismounted. The division- 
generals LTT6ritier, Delort, Colbert, 
the brigadiers Travers, Dnop, Blan- 
card, and others still had been 
wounded or bruised and mashed in 
the clash of riding ; many colonels 
were killed. Each regiment formed 
no more than a squadron." = Sir 
Augustus Frazer, who was most of 
the time beside the Duke, and an 
eye-witness of this part of the action, 
thus described these charges in a 
letter written on the evening after 
tbe battle : — " The French cavalry 
made some of the boldest charges 
I ever saw ; they sounded tbe whole 
extent of our line, which was thrown 
into squares. [Frazer has elsewhere 
said tbat be saw nothing of what 
passed on the east of tbe Cbarleroi 
road.] Never did cavahy behave so 
nobly, or was received by infantry 
so firmly. Our guns were taken and 
retaken repeatedly." In a subsequent 
and more detailed letter Frazer 
wrote : " Tbe French cavalry, ad- 
vancing with an intrepidity un- 
paralleled, attacked at once the right 
and centre of our position, their ad- 
vance protected by a cannonade 
more violent than ever. Behind tbe 
crest of the position . . . tbe in- 
fantry . . . were in a great measure 



III. 



u 2 



292 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Hougomont a body of French infantry had followed in 
the rear of the cavalry advance and tnrned the flank of 
the Guards who held the orchard, compelling them to 
retire into the "■ hollow-way " along its northern bound- 
ary ; but the Allied cavalry now drove back those 
of the French infantry who were in the open field, and 
Hepburn led his Guards against those in the orchard, 
dislodged them, and once more repossessed himself 
of it. La Haye Sainte during all this time had been 
very hard pressed, and the riflemen, firing continually, 
had nearly exhausted their ammunition at the time 
when the rush of flying and pursuing horsemen carried 
away with it those of Donzelot's infantry who were on 
the western side of the buildings. Their withdrawal, 
seconded by redoubled exertions on the part of the 
garrison, was followed by the retirement of the other 
besiegers, and the whole front of the Allied position 
was cleared of enemies. Baring seized the opportunity 
to send for ammunition — which was promised, but not 
forwarded, — and his men improved the time to repair 



sheltered by the nature of the ground 
— in great measure, too, by their 
lying down, by order. On the 
approach — the majestic approach — 
of the French cavalry, the squares 
rose, and, with a steadiness almost 
inconceivable, awaited, without firing, 
the rush of the cavalry, who, after 
making some fruitless efforts, sweep- 
ing the whole artillery of the line, 
and receiving the fire of the squares 
as they passed, retired, followed by 
and pell-mell with our own cavalry, 
who, formed behind our squares, 
advanced on the first appearance 
(which was unexpected) of the 
enemy's squadrons. . . . The re- 
peated charges of the enemy's noble 
cavalry were similar to the first; 



each was fruitless. Not an infantry 
soldier moved, and on each charge, 
abandoning their guns, our [artillery] 
men sheltered themselves between 
the flanks of the squares. Twice, 
however, the enemy tried to charge 
in front ; these attempts were en- 
tirely frustrated by the fire of the 
guns, wisely reserved till the hos- 
tile squadrons were within twenty 
yards of the muzzles. . . . The 
obstinacy of these attacks made our 
situation critical ; though never 
forced, our ranks were becoming 
thin. . . . Had Napoleon supported 
his first cavalry attacks on both 
fianks by masses of infantry, he had 
gained the day." 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIED ATTACK. 



293 



June 18. 
III. 



the damages to their stronghold and prepare as far as yvaterioc 
possible for the next attack. 

ISTey, repulsed in his two grand cavalry attacks, 
instantly set himself to the preparation of a third, with 
augmented force. Napoleon — either of his own accord 
or at Key's solicitation — sent him Kellermann's corps of 
heavy cavalry, consisting of 7 squadrons of dragoons, 
1 1 of cuirassiers, and 6 of carbineers ; and to this was 
further added — by Ney, without the Emperor's autho- 
risation, some have said ; against the Emperor's express 
orders, as others state it ; by their own spontaneous 
impulse, as Thiers believes — Guyot's division of the 
heavy cavalry of the Guard, composed of 6 squadrons 
of horse-grenadiers and 7 of dragoons, — a total addition 
of 37 fresh squadrons to the 40 which had already 
charged. ^^"^ Welhngton's ranks, foot and horse, were 



190 Thiers gives this account of 
the manner in which Ney procured 
Kellermann's corps, after the failure 
of his second charge : — " Napoleon, 
whose attention was attracted by 
the frightful tumult caused hy the 
cavalry, saw what Ney's impatience 
had led him to attempt. All who 
surrounded him applauded, but this 
consummate captain, who had fought 
more than fifty pitched battles, ex- 
claimed, ' He has begun an hour too 
soon.' ' This man,' added Marshal 
Soult, speaking of Ney, ' this man 
is always the same ! He will com- 
promise everything, as he did at Jena 
and Eylau ! ' Still Napoleon thought 
it better to support him in what he 
had commenced, and sent orders to 
Kellermann to support MUhaud's 
cuirassiers. Kellermann's 3,000 cui- 
rassiers were stationed in front of 
the heavy cavalry of the Guard, con- 
sisting of 2,000 mounted grenadiers 



and dragoons, all eager for action, 
the cavalry being quite as zealous 
as the infantry on this most fatal 
day. = Kellermann, who had had some 
experience at Quatre Bras of what 
he called Ney's foolish zeal, con- 
demned the desperate use which at 
this moment was made of the cavalry. 
Distrusting the result, he kept back 
one of his brigades, the carbineers, and 
most unwillingly sent the remainder 
to Ney." These were the only rein- 
forcements brought by Ney for the 
third charge, according to Thiers, 
who does not bring Kellermann's re- 
maining brigade or Guyot's division 
into action until what is here con- 
sidered the fourth and final charge, 
though Thiers terms it" the eleventh." 
Probably the 12,000 horsemen were 
not all in action at any one time, 
and it certainly cannot be told 
at what moment each corps entered 
it, 



III. 



294 QUATRE BRAS; LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

greatly wasted both by the previous attacks and by the 
storm of shot and shell that preluded them; but the 
squares, though dnnmished, were steady as ever, and jus- 
tified their leader's resolution to hold his ground until 
that relief should come from the Prussians which he knew 
could not be much longer deferred, and which, indeed, 
was already on the point of telling in his aid, though 
he was yet unaware of it. Satisfied by this time that 
no attack was meditated beyond the extreme right of 
his main force, Wellington now ordered Chasse to 
evacuate Braine-la-Leude, and bring his Dutch-Belo;ian 
division, by way of Merbe Braine, to relieve troops in 
his second Hne whom it was becoming necessary to 
advance into the first. Before this was accomplished, 
however, Ney's new cavalry force had worn themselves 
cut among the squares as their predecessors had done ; 
parties of horsemen, separated from their proper corps, 
had withdrawn into the valley ; broken squadrons had 
retired to re-form, and presently the movement of 
retreat became general. The Allied dragoons, held in 
reserve until the favourable moment, now fell upon 
them and converted their retreat into a disorderly 
flight ; and the Allied artillery, again opening upon 
their rear, multiplied the losses they had already 
suffered from the musketry of the squares. During 
this third charge by the cavalry Donzelot's troops had 
again returned to their attack upon La Haye Sainte. 
Baring, seeing their approach, sent again for ammu- 
nition, instead of which another of Ompteda's companies 
of the German Legion reinforced him. For half an 
hour longer he made good his stand, and then sent for 
the third time for ammunition, and again was dis- 
appointed, being given only additional reinforcements, 
— 2 Nassau companies, who had indeed their own 
musketry ammunition, but it was useless for his rifles. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIRD ATTACK. 295 

Still, however, he had succeeded hi holdmo- back the Battle of 

i^ vVaterloo. 

French, who were persistent 111 their eiiorts to enter at 

the doorless entrance to the barn, but were uniformly --— 
driven back. At last they had recourse to the ex- 
pedient tried at Hougomont, and fired the barn. A 
thick smoke poured out, and for a moment the garrison 
were in dismay ; for, although there was a pond in the 
yard, they found no vessels for carrying water until 
Baring's eye chanced to fall upon the camp-kettles 
which adorned the knapsacks of the men of the 2 
Nassau companies. He snatched one and filled it ; his 
example was quickly followed ; and the fire was ex- 
tinguished ; though numbers of his men were shot 
down while exposing themselves in approaching the 
flames. This danger was passed, and the French, tired 
out by this unfaltering resistance and convinced that 
the place was impregnable, retired from the un- 
promising task. Outside the enclosure of La Haye 
Sainte, meanwhile, the French had succeeded in inflict- 
ing a severe blow upon a portion of Ompteda's already 
diminished troops. A portion of Donzelot's force had 
passed on into the rear of the buildings, seeking either 
to attack them through the garden or to isolate them 
from the Allied position. The Prince of Orange took 
this to be a good opportunity to attack, and ordered 2 
battahons of the Legion to advance upon the Wavre 
road, when the Germans were set upon in flank by a 
body of cuirassiers that had just desisted from a charge 
upon Kielmansegge's squares. One battahon was suc- 
coured by Somerset's dragoons in time to save it from 
severe loss ; but the other was more advanced, was 
taken wholly by surprise, and was almost totally de- 
stroyed by the cuirassiers — its commander and most of 
its ofiicers falling and its colour being taken, while only 
a scanty remnant escaped to the rear of the " hollow- 



296 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



III. 



way."^^^ While these operations were going on about 
La Haye Sainte, Ney was also preparing Bachelu's 
division to direct a heavy attack against the centre of 
the Allied right wing. But this did not take effect until 
a later stage of the battle ; and at the time of the 
infantry combats just described the final charge of the 
French cavalry was taking place. = The third attack by 
the French horsemen upon the squares had scarcely 
been repelled, and the Allied artillery had had time to 
throw but a few rounds of shot into their retiring 
masses, when a fourth onset was m^ide by another body 
of cavalry. ^^^ This fourth charge resembled the pre- 



^^1 Tlie overthrow of this bat- 
talion of the King's German Legion 
seems to be the only foundation for 
the stories of broken squares and 
captured standards upon which 
Thiers, Hugo, and their comitrymen 
in general have enlarged. 

^®~ Thiers' account would make 
these new assailants to be Guyot's 
corps, who did not follow Kellermann 
at the time of the third charge. His 
story is as follows : — " Notwithstand- 
ing the desperate resistance that 
they met, he still hoped to destroy 
the English army at the point of the 
sword. He unexpectedly received a 
fresh reinforcement. Whilst this 
Titanic combat was going on, the 
heavy cavalry of the Guard hastened 
forward, though nobody knew why. 
These had been stationed in a slight 
hollow somewhat in the rear, when 
some officers having advanced to 
assist Ney in this gigantic conflict, 
believing that he had conquered, 
brandished their sabres, and cried 
' Victory ! ' At this cry other 
officers rushed forward, and the 
nearest squadron, regarding this as 
a signal to charge, advanced at a trot. 



The entire mass followed, yielding to 
a species of mechanical impulse ; the 
2,000 dragoons and mounted grena- 
diers ascended the plateau, trampling 
through wet and muddy ground. Ber- 
trand being sent by Napoleon to keep 
them back, hastened to do so, but 
could not overtake them. Ney profited 
by this unexpected reinforcement, and 
directed it agamst the brazen wall 
he was endeavouring to batter 
down. . . . Ney, whom nothing 
could daunt, sent forward Milhaud's 
cavalry, who had got a few moments' 
rest, and he thus kept up a kind of 
continual charge, each squadron after 
attacking the enemy falling back to 
form, and then return to the attack. 
. . . Ney, seeing Kellermann's carbi- 
neers in reserve, hastened to where 
they were, asked what they were 
doing, and then, despite of Keller- 
mann's resistance, led them against 
the enemy. . . . Ney still persisted, 
and for the eleventh time led on his 
10,000 to the attack, killing as they 
went, but still unable to subdue 
the firmness of the infantry that, 
though shaken for a moment, again 
closed their ranks, fell into line, and 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIRD ATTACK. 297 

vious ones in most of its details, but had this dis- 
tinguishing feature — that a special effort was made 
against the right of the Alhed line at the point where 
the young Brunswick troops were stationed and where 
the cavalry support had hitherto been weakest. But 
just as the charge fell, Grant, returning from his watch 
of Pire,^^^ came up Avith two fresh regiments to the en- 
dangered point. A body of French horsemen, coming 
from the eastern edge of the Hougomont enclosures, 
was in the act of charging up the slope upon the 
Brunswick squares, when Grant, with the 13th light 
dragoons, rode down upon them from the height and 
drove them back some 300 yards, into the valley ; and 
on his left he was supported by his 15th hussars, who 
at the same time fell upon a party of cuirassiers, whom 
they also routed. The defeated French retired to the 
main body of their cavalry, who were in the act of 
advancing ; and the two British regiments withdrew 
before this great force through the intervals between 
the squares, whose steadiness they had ensured by their 
timely and efficient interposition. Once among the 
squares, the French fared no better than in their pre- 

continued to fire. Ney, foaming Augustus Frazer, at the close of 
with excitement and bareheaded^ note 189, page 292. 
his fourth horse shot under him, his ^^^ Grant had heen detained by- 
coat pierced with bullets, covered Fire's demonstrations before the 
with contusions, but fortunately not extreme French left imtil he wit- 
seriously injured, said to Col. nessed the second and apparently 
Heymes that, if he could get the successful charge of the cuirassiers, 
infantry of the Guard, he would de- Then, knowing the weakness of the 
stroy the exhausted English infantry. Allies in cavalry in that part of the 
whose strength was nearly spent. field, he resolved to return, leaving 
He sent him to ask Napoleon for one of his squadrons to watch Pire, 
this reinforcement." = As to the and he reached the field thus oppor- 
correctness of Ney's judgment on tunely with the remainder of his 
this occasion, see the opinion of the force. 
English artillery commander, Sir 



June 18. 
III. 



298 QUATKE BRAS, LIQNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of vioiis attacks. They rode vainly round and round 
- — ' tliem, seekinsi; an opening which they might penetrate, 

June 18. „ . "• 1 1 • 1 • 11 n • 

lencmg witli their sabres agamst the bayonets, nring 

their pistols into the ranks ; but nowhere could they 
make any impression. In all the spaces between the 
squares the old scenes of confusion soon repeated them- 
selves and multijDlied, until, in Siborne's words, " the 
greater portion of the interior slope occupied by the 
Allied right wing seemed covered with horsemen of all 
kinds — cuirassiers, lancers, carbineers, chasseurs, dra- 
goons, and horse-grenadiers. ... At length the attack 
evinced symptoms of exhaustion ; the charges became 
less frequent and less vigorous ; disorder and confusion 
were rapidly augmenting ; the spirit of enthusiasm and 
the confidence of superiority were quickly yielding to 
the feeling of despondency and the sense of hopeless- 
5.30 P.M. iiQss. The Anglo- Allied cavalry again advanced, and once 
more swept away the mingled host, comprising every 
description of mounted troops, from off the ground 
on which they had so fruitlessly frittered away their 
strength." 

Thus ended the charges of that magnificent cavalry 
which were exjoected to sweep from the field the insig- 
nificant-looking cluster of infantry squares that con- 
stituted Wellington's right wing. The sole result of 
the operation to Napoleon — apart from the loss of two 
valuable hours, during which the Prussians were con- 
stantly drawing near — was such a wholesale destruction 
of his superb cavalry force as left it incapable of any 
great effort during the remainder of the day. It — or 
rather the cavalry and the artillery combined — had 
inflicted severe losses upon the Allied force, both foot 
and horse, who had withstood it ; but their loss was by 
no means comparable to its own ; and the Anglo-Allies 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— THIRD ATTACK. 



299 



were fulfilling their duty if only they held their ground ^f^[gj,i°o 
until the coming of the Prussians. ^^* 



^^* Thiers' story of these charges 
— of which the substance has been 
given in notes 187, page 285 ; and 
189, page 290; and 190, page 293 — 
is the expansion of Napoleon's self- 
exciilpatory assertion that 'Nej, 
" yielding to the impulses of a reck- 
less valour," destroyed the cavalry, 
employing them in defiance of the 
Emperor's wishes, and thereby lost 
the battle. The primary impression 
created by Thiers' narrative is one of 
wonder at the laxity of discipline 
and wilfulness among the officers of 
tlie Grand Army. INIilhaud, he tells 
us, when bidding an impressive and 
French adieu to Lefebvre-Desnouettes, 
says, " I am going to charge : support 
me," — whereupon the commander of 
the light cavalry of the Guard takes 
his whole corps into action without 
orders. Kellermann, next, is ordered 
by Napoleon to put his corps at 
Ney's disposal, but, disapproving 
Ney's use of cavalry, withholds one 
of his brigades, and resists when 
called upon for it. Guyot's corps is 
now the last of the heavy cavalry 
remaining : its officers, watching the 
fight, become excited, cry out, ''rush " 
about, excite their men, especially 
one squadron which charges of its 
own accord, and the whole corps 
straightway follow, though Napo- 
leon sends vainly to call it back. If 
all this is true, it was the bad disci- 
pline of tlie Grand Army, rather 
than Ney's reckless valour, that de- 
stroyed the cavalry. Chesney, com- 
menting on Napoleon's original ex- 
cuse and Thiers' elaboration of it, 
says : " It is a melancholy instance 
of the perversion of history to suit 



national fancy, that would represent 
such a chief as Napoleon, sitting in 
the midst of a great action, fought 
on a narrow space, surrounded by an 
ample staff, and served by officers of 
unequalled experience, and yet un- 
able to restrain his lieutenants from 
uselessly sacrificing his troops at the 
wrong seasons. . , Col. Heymes has 
fully explained the particulars of the 
cavalry attack, which was in great 
part not ordered by Ney, but under- 
taken by the reserves^ of that arm, 
who vainly imagined the British 
centre in retreat. From his account 
we need only quote the simple words 
(which no evidence has ever touched), 
'But this movement was executed 
under the eyes of the Emperor ; he 
might have stopped it ; he did not 
do so,' to show on whom the real 
responsibility lies." = Kennedy, com- 
menting upon the same point, brings 
into view the manner in which Na- 
poleon allowed the battle to take 
care of itself (see note 148, page 
236). " On the field of battle," he 
says, " Wellington's execution greatly 
sm-passed that of Napoleon. Where- 
ever there was a turning-point in the 
battle, there Wellington directed in 
person, judging for himself, and met 
the storm. Napoleon, on the con- 
trary, sluggishly kept almost to one 
spot, and acted on the information of 
others : for example, he says that he 
disapproved of the great cavalry 
attack as a premature movement. 
Why, then, when he saw Milhaud's 
whole corps of cavalry begin to move 
across the Charleroi road, imme- 
diately in front of where he stood, 
and dkectly under his view, did he 



June 18. 
III. 



Waterloo, 
June i8. 
III. 



300 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of There was not, after the repulse of the cavalry- 

charges, any such intermission of attacks as had divided 
the previous phases of the battle. On the contrary, 
the assaults upon the right wing of the Anglo-Allies 
were continuous ; but their character and purpose were 
different, and they belong to the next stage of the 
action. 

During this third period of the battle the Prussians 
had entered upon their attack on the French right 
The Prussian Aauk. Blilow, loug delayed by the difficulties 
Attack. q£ ^YiQ march from Wavre and the nearly 
impossible passage of the valley of the Lasne, had suc- 
ceeded in establishing 2 brigades of his corps — Losthin's 
15th and Hiller's i6th brigades, — together with his 
reserve cavalry and artillery, in the Wood of Paris, just 
at the time when the French cavalry charges were 

4 P.M. beginning.i^^ This force was not sufficient to effect 
great results, and there was serious risk in exposing it, 
unsupported, to the much greater strength the French 
might direct against it ; but Bllicher's characteristic 
impatience to be in the fray, seconded by Wellington's 
repeated appeals for his aid and by what he could 

not gallop forth with his staff and Here, then, we have Thiers' motive 

stop the movemejit ? It was an for that artful dislocation of the real 

isolated movement, so that he had at order of events which has already 

that moment nothing else calling- been pointed out in note 182, page 

for his immediate attention." Ken- 277. In order to shift the blame of 

nedy wrote thus in 1858 — before the cavalry charges upon Ney, by 

Thiers had put forth his story that proving an alibi for Napoleon, he 

Ney used the cavalry without Na- alleges the foUowmg sequence — ist, 

poleon's knowledge. At the time of the attack by the Prussians ; 2d, 

Milhaud's first charge, Thiers says, the capture of La Haye Sainte ; 3d, 

" Napoleon had been obliged to leave the cavalry charges. In fact, the 

his post in the centre and betake cavaby charges were well advanced 

himself to the right to direct the before the Prussians entered the 

action against the Prussians, who field, and were commenced two hours 

thus deprived us not only of our before La Haye Sainte was taken, 
reserves, but of Napoleon's presence." '^^ See page 157. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PKUSSIAN ATTACK. 



\Ol 



himself see of the tremendous pressure brought upon Battle of 
his alhes, induced him to wait no longer for reinforce- 
ments, but to venture an advance that should y;^g Prussian 
at least have the effect of making a diversion ^*^'"'''- 
in favour of the British. ^^^ Sending back messengers 
to hasten the advance of the troops in the 



Waterloo. 
June 1 8. 
III. 



rear- 



1^® Thiers finds it natural to 
assume that Bliicher was actuated by 
extremely contemptible sentiments. 
" Although he had no objection," he 
says, "to let the Euo-lish suffer 
something in punishment of what he 
considered the tardy aid they had 
given him at Ligny, he still would 
not injure the common cause by the 
indulgence of any feeluig of mean 
resentment." The unparalleled ar- 
dour which the old man had shown 
in every incident of the campaign 
renders Victor Hugo's story far more 
probable — " Bliicher, seeing Wel- 
lington's danger, ordered Biilow to 
attack, and employed the memorable 
phrase, ' We must let the English 
army breathe ! ' " The idea prevalent 
among the English at the time, that 
the Prussians only came up in time 
to mtness the consummation of a 
victory already gained by British 
arms, gives colouring to Scott's first 
version of their advance, in Paul's 
Letters. The Prussians began, he 
says, " with no great energy, as the 
Prussian general waited the coming 
up of the main body of Bllicher's 
army. . . Besides, the efi'ects of the 
battle of Ligny were still felt, and 
it was not only natural but proper 
that Bliicher . . . should take some 
time to ascertain whether the Eng- 
lish were able to maintain their 
ground until he should come up to 
their assistance, . . . Such, at least, 
is the opinion of our best and most 



judicious ofiicers. But the loyalty 
of the Prince-Marshal's character 
did not permit him long to hesitate 
upon advancing to the support of his 
illustrious ally." The disposition to 
exclude the Prussians from their 
share in the triumph of Waterloo 
was not merely a momentary one, 
pardonable on the score of incom- 
plete information: as late as 1827 
Scott incorporated in his Life of 
Napoleon Buonaparte, without cor- 
rection, this statement of Pringle's 
— " The loss of the Prussians on the 
1 8th did not exceed 800 men. The 
brunt of the action was chiefly sus- 
tained by the troops of the British 
and King's German Legion, as their 
loss will show." The loss of the 
Prussians at Waterloo, in fact, was 
6,798, in addition to which Thiel- 
mann lost 2,467 at Wavre — a total 
Prussian loss of 9,265, against 6,936 
of British troops. These figures are 
ofiicial, being Siborne's. Yet so 
recent and respectable a writer as 
Hooper, comparmg the British and 
Prussian losses for the express pur- 
pose of determining their relative 
share in the day's glory, has recourse 
to the expedient of excluding the 
numbers that fell at Wavre, and 
thereby exalts his countrymen at the 
expense of their allies. = For the 
number of the Prussian troops at 
their first entrance on the field, and 
at subsequent hours, see page 194. 



Waterloo. 
June I 8 
III. 



302 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle ^of Hacke's I3tli and Eyssel's I4tli brigades of Billow's 
corps, and, as was supposed, the entire 2d corps of 
The Prussian Pii"ch, — Bluclier gave tlic order to advance, 
Attack. ^j^(-| Ya^ scanty troops debouched from the 

4.30 P.M. wood.^^^ The advance was made in a direction perpen- 
dicular to the French right flank and to the Charleroi 
road, which formed the French main line of operation. 
Losthin's brigade moved forward on the right, Hiller's 
on the left : covering the right flank, 3 battalions 
were detached to Frischermont and Smohain: on the 
left flank, in like manner, 2 battalions were pushed 
out toward the stream of the Lasne; and beyond it. 100 
horsemen were engaged in scouring the country which 
the French had omitted to occupy. The nearest 
French troops in Bllicher's front, though at some dis- 
tance, were Domont's cavalry, which had remained 
idly drawn up in this position since the first alarm of 
the Prussians' approach. ^'^^ Upon these Blticher now 
opened a cannonade, intended rather to announce his 
coming to his allies and draw the attention of the 
French to his advance, than to greatly affect the enemy 
before him. Domont hereupon sent forward a regiment 
of horse-chasseurs, following with his whole line ; and 
2 Prussian cavalry regiments, supported by a third, 
drove back the chasseurs, until forced to retreat in turn 
by the greater numbers of the French, which they 
effected under cover of two of their batteries. These 
and the advance of Billow's infantry checked Domont's 

1" Oharras fixes tlie beginniBg of Dutcli historians ; and the English 

the Prussian attack at 4.30. " Na- historians — which is decisive — are in 

poleon and the French writers in ge- accord with all this testimony, de- 

neral/' he says, " place Billow's at- spite their envious desire to reduce as 

tack at 4 o'clock. It commenced at much as possible the share of the 

4.30 — so say the Prussian bulletin Prussians in the battle." 
and Billow's report, so say also ^^^ See page 234, 

Muffling and the Prussian and 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 303 

attack. = By this time the ^ battahons ou the rig-ht had Battle of 

J ^ ^ ^ Waterloo. 

reached Smohain, where they appeared to the surprise 

both of the AUied troops who held the ham- y^g Prussian ttt 
lets and of Durutte's force on the French ■^"«^'^- 
extreme right. These soon advanced in snch strength 5-30 p-^. 
as to compel the Prussians to draw back, but they held 
the hedges in advance of the villages and exchanged 
a brisk musketry fire with the enemy. = Napoleon had 
at once responded to Bliicher's advance by sending 
Lobau, with his 6th infantry corps, to join Domont in 
checking it. Lobau passed before the cavalry, which was 
now disposed in support, and took up a position against 
the new comers. The tract of ground upon which he 
faced them consisted of an elevated tongue of land or 
promontory included by the streams of the Smohain and 
the Lasne; and it was across this that he drew up his 
troops, his left joining Durutte's division near Papelotte, 
and his right extending to the Hanotelet farm near the 
road to Planchenoit, that runs beside the Lasne. This 
disposition was effected rapidly and in good order ; and 
Bliicher, with a correspondino' front and with the re- 
serve cavalry under Prince William of Prussia in sup- 
port of his left wing, moved up the slope of the pro- 
montory and upon the French, who directed upon him 
a brisk cannonade that soon disabled three of the Prus- 
sian guns. At the outset the Prussians were inferior in 
numbers to Lobau, who, says Thiers, " received them 
with a fusillade which, though it did great mischief in 
their ranks, did not arrest their advance. These re- 
turned the fire to the best of their ability, and their 
projectiles, falhng behind us into the midst of our parks 
and baggage, caused some confusion on the Charleroi 
road. Lobau's practised eye saw that they were not 
supported, and seizing the opportunity [he] sent for- 
ward his first hne, and a charge with fixed bayonets 



304 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND "WATERLOO. 

Battle of drove the assailants back into the thickets they had left." 

Waterloo. a i • • -n i ? • 

At tins luncture, however, Billows two remammg bri- 

June i8. ^ 1-1 

— - ThePntssian g^des camc up, and gave mm the superiority 
5.30 P.M. -Attack. q£ fQj.(3g^ Bllicher was now able not only to 

meet Lobau along his whole position with a line stronger 
than his own, but to detach on his right 2 more battalions 
which should support those already advanced to Frischer- 
mont and Smohain and secure the communication with 
Prince Bernliard of Saxe-Weimar, whose brigade was in 
front of the extreme Anglo-Allied left ; and this flank was 
also given the su|)port of 2 cavalry regiments : on their 
left the Prussians still more seriously outflanked the 
French, and the cavalry of Prince William were on the 
road to Planchenoit — which was in the rear both of Lo- 
bau and of Napoleon — with no enemy to oppose them.^^^ 



139 The ordei 
Cavalry 


♦ of the Prussian 

15th brigade 131 
Losthin 


advance was this : — 

14th brigade 
Eyssel 






3h brigade l6th brigade 
Hacke Hiller 




Friscliermont * 
Smohain * 




BtJLOW 
LOBAU 


Cavalry 


Papelotte * 


Jeannin 

Subervie 


Simmer 
Domont 


* Planchenoit 



The Prussian force consisted of the ofDomont and Suhervie, 3, 100 strong, 

whole of Billow's (4th) corps, ahout and he had some batteries from the 

29,000 strong, of all arms. Lobau Imperial Guard, his own 12-pounder 

commanded 2 divisions of his own battery having been among those de- 

(6th) corps, about 7,500 strong (his stroyed by the charge of the Scots 

remaining division being with Greys. These forces were distri- 

Grouchy), and the 2 cavalry divisions buted as follows : — 
Lobau Bulow 





Opposing Lobau 


At Frischermont, &c. 


Total 


Battalions, 16 


30 


6 


36 


Squadrons, 18 


27 


8 


35 


Gruns, 42 


64 


— 


64 



Billow's guns were divided among 2 batteries of 12-pounders, 4 of 6-pounders, 
and 2 horse-batteries. 



III. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 305 

Planclieiioit up to tins time had been occupied by the Battle of 

French ; and, both on this account and because his ' 

right flank was on the point of being turned, j,j^^ pmssian 
Lobau had no choice but to fall back in the Attack. 
direction of the Charleroi road. Napoleon, alive to the 
gravity of the danger of having his flank thus turned by 
a force already so considerable and likely to be increased, 
hastened to occupy Planchenoit in force and support 
Lobau. He therefore sent the troops nearest at hand, ^ ^-^^ 
the 2 divisions of the Young Guard — 4 battalions of 
voltigeurs, 4 of tirailleurs, — with 24 guns, instructing 
Gren. Duhesme, their commander, to place himself on 
the right of Lobau'scorps. = It was at this moment, when 
he was so pressed for troops that he had been driven to 
the measure he especially detested — that of drawing upon 
his Guard, and to the extent of one-third of its entire 
strength, — that Napoleon received a message from Ney, 
now organising the new attack upon Wellington's centre, 
calling for fresh infantry. The Emperor's famous reply 
indicated the frame of mind to which the condition of 
the battle had brought him — " Oli voulez-vous que fen 
prenne 1 Voulez-vous que fen fasse f " 

At this period of the battle — at the close of his third 
great attack — Napoleon had gained no single advantage 
over his enemy. The third attack in particular had 
been disastrous to him, for it had wrecked his noble 
cavalry force and destroyed a large proportion of it.- 
To quote Kennedy's military criticism, " This third 
attack, made by the whole of his magnificent force of 
heavy cavalry, was an error of surpassing magnitude 
on the part of Napoleon, because, first, it was a merely 
isolated attack ; second, it was made by cavalry alone ; 
third, it was made on a portion of the Anglo-Allied army 
which had not before been attacked at all, and conse- 
quently not in the least degree broken or exhausted ; and, 

X 



June i8. 
III. 



306 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of. fourth, it was a premature period of the action at which 
to attempt to decide the battle by a mere charge of 
cavalry. No part of Wellington's line of battle was at 
that period of the action either so exhausted or so 
shaken as to warrant the supposition that his order of 
battle could be overthrown by cavalry alone." The 
six hours which Napoleon had lost, and the omission to 
oppose resistance while there was yet time, had allowed 
the overlooked Prussians to come upon his flank and 
almost into his rear and upon his line of retreat. 
Already he was greatly outnumbered, and he had every 
reason to exj)ect the inequality to increase. 



IV. Attacks upoti the Allied Eight and Centre : 
La Haye Sainte taken. 

IV. Napoleon and Ney had both become convinced of 

the failure of the attempt to break the Allied line by 
means of cavalry alone, and, even before the repulse of 
the fourth great cavalry charge, both were absorbed in 
other operations. Napoleon's attention was engrossed 
— and, for the time, to the exclusion of all other things 
— by the imminent danger from Blucher's impending 
attack on his right and rear. To meet and overcome 
this was his immediate task, and until it should be ac- 
complished he postponed, or at least subordinated, the 
continuation of the unproductive contest along Welling- 
ton's line. Ney, on the contrary — seeing nothing, and 
perhaps knowing as little, of the Prussians, — was intent 
upon achieving victory in his own part of the field. 
Turning away from the ineffectual cavalry charges, he 
proceeded to organise a new assault upon La Haye 
Sainte, as a preliminary to new attacks from that out- 
post by which he hoped to break Wellington's centre 
and overthrow his right wing. 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 30 7 

The Allied right, however, continued to undergo a Battle of 
series of attacks — partial and disconnected, but none tJ_°* 
the less severe — during the period of Ney's preparations. ^^^ * 
No sooner had the French cavalry been driven from the 
plateau than their batteries again reopened their furious 
cannonade. Many of the Allied guns had by this time 
become disabled ; and while some of their batteries had 
from time to time been withdrawn to refit, others, 
which had been in the rear or in the second line, were 
brought forward to replace them along the main ridge. 
One of these renovated batteries. Major Bull's, returned 
to the position in left-rear of Hougomont whence it 
had originally been dislodged by Fire's fire from the 
extreme French left,^^^ and renewed the contest with its 
old enemy so effectively that it presently silenced his 
guns for the remainder of the day — a most important 
service to all the Allied troops and artillerymen in that 
part of the field, since Fire's battery had for a long 
time enfiladed their right flank. Farther to the right, 
Cooke's division of Guards and the Brunswick troops 
held an exposed position where the French guns played 
upon them with terrible severity ; and the French 
cavalry were evidently preparing to attack them, when 
they were relieved by the opportune arrival of artillery 
reinforcements — Mercer's British horse-battery, which 
posted itself before the Brunswick squares,^*^^ and 
Sympher's horse-battery of the King's German Legion, 

^•"^ See page 228. " Tliat's the way I like to see horse- 
2°i Mercer's Journal of the Water- artillery move " — the second occasion 
loo Campaign describes his troop at on which the Duke's admiration for 
this moment as coming up at a gallop this battery had been extorted from 
from its previous position on the him (note 1 1, page 19). Mercer says 
west of the Nivelles road, the troop of the fire into which he now ad- 
flying over the ground as compactly vanced : " So thick was the hail of 
as if at a review. The Duke of balls and bullets that it seemed dan- 
Wellington, who was at the endan- gerous to extend the arm lest it 
gered point, said of their approach, should be torn off." 



IV. 



3o8 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of wliicli was diawn up on Mercer's left, nearer the Guards. 

Waterloo. -l- 

j^^8 Mercer's guns — six 9-pounders — were partially sheltered 
behind a low bank some three feet high, on which a 
narrow cross-road descended a steep part of the ridge 
in rear of Hougomont, the muzzles of the guns being 
nearly 'on a level with the road. Just as they were 
made ready for action, a heavy column of French 
cuirassiers and horse-grenadiers rode rapidly up the 
ridge directly upon the battery : they had almost 
reached it when it opened on them so destructive a fire 
that the column recoiled ; its leading squadrons faced 
about and struggled toward the rear ; the advancing 
and retiring horsemen mingled into a stationary mob ; 
and into this helpless mass the battery poured an 
incessant and wonderfully rapid fire that produced 
frightful carnage. In their frantic struggles to escape 
from this dreadful situation the French came to blows 
with one another ; some dashed in between the intervals 
of the guns and surrendered ; others were carried away 
by wounded horses, to perish among the squares ; and 
the most fortunate, a mere wreck of their former force, 
sought shelter under the slope, leaving upon it heaps 
of bodies of men and horses. == On the left of Mercer's 
battery, nearly at the time these cavalry were repulsed, 
the central portion of the right wing was attacked by 
that infantry column from Bachelu's division which Ney 
had set in motion when he was himself preparing to 
assail La Haye Sainte,''^^"'^ and the column was supported 
by cavalry. To relieve the threatened squares, now 
greatly reduced in numbers. Lord Uxbridge ordered a 
charge by the remains of Somerset's Household Brigade ; 
but he saw these had become too few to make a serious 
impression upon the heavy column, and he ordered up 

^°- See page 296. 



IV. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 309 

in their support Trip's still intact brigade of Dutch- Battle of 
Belgian carbineers, i ,300 strong. Somerset had charged ^_Z^- 
and momentarily checked the column, but had not 
strength sufficient to penetrate it, and was in the act of 
retiring from its fire, when Lord Uxbridge put himself 
at the head of the Dutch-Belgians, sounded the " charge," 
and rode forward to attack. He had not gone far when 
his aide-de-camp, Capt. Seymour, galloping after, over- 
took him with the intelligence that not a man was 
following him. Turning his horse he rode up to Trip 
and addressed him in terms adapted to the occasion — 
" cavalry forms of speech," as they have since been 
called, — and, when these had no effect, appealed di- 
rectly to the ranks, exhorting the men by voice and 
gesture, again sounding the " charge," and again leading 
the way. But the Dutch-Belgians were not to be moved 
until the approach of the French cavalry, who had 
witnessed their hesitation, and were now coming upon 
them : then they instantly went about, and, completely 
disordering 2 squadrons of Arentsschildt's 3d hussars 
of the King's German Legion who obstructed their way, 
fled the field, and were no more seen in the fight. The 
3d hussars had just formed to charge, in the rear of 
Kruse's Nassau squares ; and the single squadron which 
had not been upset by the fugitives now charged gal- 
lantly and overthrew those of the cuirassiers whom 
they encountered. By this time the 2 right-hand 
squadrons had recovered their order, and Lord Ux- 
bridge led the entire regiment to the brow of the 
heights, whence they charged a line of 3 squadrons of 
French cuirassiers and 3 of heavy dragoons. The 
French were some 150 yards down the slope, and the 
speed which the hussars gathered in the descent carried 
them triumphantly through the line, which was moving 
at a very slow pace ; but the enemy's numbers closed 



3IO QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of in upon them, hemming? tliem in on flanks and rear, and 

Waterloo. j- ^ o ? 

" SO many were cut off that, of the whole regiment, there 

• ' survived from the French pursuit, to rally behind the 

infantry squares, only between 60 and 70 files, which 
were formed into 2 squadrons and posted in rear of 
Kielmansegge's Hanoverian infantry. = Still more to the 
left, beside the Charleroi road, the destruction in the 
Allied troops had been so great that there was now a 
serious gap in their line, and to fill this — or at least 
that it should apjDcar to the enemy to be filled, — ■ 
Uxbridge ordered forward the Cumberland regiment 
of Hanoverian hussars. The conduct of Trip's Dutch- 
Belgians, together with the bearing of the commander 
of these Hanoverians, had inspired Lord Uxbridge with 
fears that they too might prove untrustworthy. " That 
he had reason to apprehend something of this kind was 
subsequently proved, for Col. Hake, on finding the shot 
flying about him a little, tcok himself and his regiment 
out of the field ; on discovering which Lord Uxbridge 
despatched his aide-de-camp, Capt. Horace Seymour, 
with an order for his return. When Capt. Seymour 
delivered this order the Colonel remarked that he had 
no confidence in his men, that they were volunteers, 
and that their horses were their own property. The 
regiment continued moving to the rear, notwithstanding 
Capt. Seymour's repeating the order to halt and asking 
the second in command to save the honour and character 
of the corps by placing himself "at its head and fronting 
the men. Finding his remonstrances produced no 
effect, he laid hold of the bridle of the Colonel's horse, 
and commented upon his conduct in teiius such as no 
man of honour could have been expected to listen to 
unmoved. This oflicer, however, appeared perfectly 
callous to any sense of shame, and far more disposed to 
submit to these attacks upon his honour than he had 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 



3Ii 



been to receive those of the enemy upon his person and 
his regiment. Upon rejoining the Earl of Uxb ridge 
and relating what had passed, Capt. Seymour was again 
directed to proceed to the commanding officer and to 
desire that if he persevered in refusing to resume his 
position in the line, he Avould at least form the regiment 
across the hic^hroad, out of fire. But even this order 
was disregarded, and the corps went altogether to the 
rear, spreading alarm and confusion all the way to 
Brussels." ''^°^ = On the rio-ht of the line, durino; these 
several conflicts, that column of horse -grenadiers and 
cuirassiers which Mercer's battery had repulsed was 
re-forming, and bent on avenging itself upon the artil- 
lerymen. The gunners were ready for them, since the 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 
IV. 



'^"^ This somewhat prolix story of 
the Cumberland hussars is Siborne'a. 
Gleig says of their progress among 
the fugitives who had preceded 
them on the way to Brussels, that 
they "came galloping down the 
great avenue and shouting that the 
French were at their heels. No 
mercy was shown by these cowards 
to the helpless and prostrate who 
came in their way. They rode over 
such as lacked time or strength to 
escape from them, and cut at the 
drivers of wagons who either did 
not or could not draw aside out of 
their way." Scott, in Paul's Letters, 
mentions a mitigating circumstance : 
— "I have been told many of the 
officers and soldiers of this unlucky 
regiment left it in shame, joined 
themselves to other bodies of cavalry, 
and behaved well in the action." 
As to Col. Hake — or Rulle, as Gleig 
calls him (he is in any case to be 
distinguished from Gen. Hacke, who 
commanded the 13th Prussian bri- 
gade in Billow's corps) — it is satis- 



factory to know that he was sub- 
sequently tried by court-martial and 
dismissed the service. = Incidents of 
this kind were of course calculated 
to awaken the Duke of Wellington's 
indignation ; but they do not justify 
his designating the aggregate force 
that fought under him as " a villain- 
ous army." His niggardly bestowal 
of praise and his refusal to affix 
merited blame seem to show his lack 
of any idea of justice. " I confess," 
he wrote to the Duke of York, on 
September 12, 181 5, "that I feel 
very strong objections to discuss 
before a general court-martial the 
conduct of any individual in such a 
battle as that of Waterloo. It 
generally brings before the public 
circumstances which might as well 
not be published : and the effect is 
equally produced by obliging him 
who has behaved ill to withdraw 
from the service." So the Duke 
averaged the conduct of the cowards 
and of the heroes — except of those 
whom he personally favoured. 



June i8. 
IV. 



312 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

high caps of the grenadiers showed above the brow of 
the slope and disclosed their movements : so, when a 
number of skirmishers ascended in advance, rode about 
the battery, and harassed tlie artillerymen with their 
carbines and pistols, the English reserved their fire for 
the charge of the main body. These presently moved 
upward, more slowly than before, because of the 
obstacles that encumbered the face of the slope, and 
approached the guns, which were rammed with case on 
top of round shot. The gunners waited until the lead- 
ing squadrons were almost upon them : then, with only 
rare exceptions, the front rank of the horsemen was 
absolutely blown away, and the solid shot crashed 
through the depth of the column : the same hideous 
scene took place as on the former charge ; and again 
for several minutes the guns played upon a tumultuous 
rabble only 20 yards distant, until the ground was 
literally piled with the dead.^*^"^ At this juncture, Allied 
infantry from the second line was brought forward into 
the first under the direction of Wellington in person, 
and in this part of the field the position was made secure. 

^^^ The liavoc made by this bat- destroyed out of his 200, every one 

tery during these two attacks was of which Bliicher had declared to be 

such that Sir Augustus Frazer, com- "good enough for a Field-Marshal," 

mander of the horse-artillery, told and of the men only enough remained 

Mercer — who records it in his to work 3 guns. Mercer, it should 

Journal — that he "could plainly be added, received no recognition 

distinguish the position of G troop from Wellington for his exploit : the 

from the opposite [French] height troop which he commanded belonged 

by the dark mass which, even from to another captain, who was not 

that distance, formed a remarkable with it during this campaign, but 

feature in the field." Mercer's bat- resumed it afterwards ; and though 

tery, however, paid severely for the Sir George Wood, commander of 

distinguished service it had rendered, the artillery, procured him the com- 

A French battery on the western maud of a troop, he was deprived of 

extremity of the central elevation it. Mercer lived to be a general, 

opened upon his guns, raking them commanding a brigade ; but he owed 

from left to right, until his troop was no thanks for it to the Duke of 

reduced to a wreck — 140 horses being Wellington. 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 



31. 



June 18. 



^°^ The force under Baring's 
command at the time of the final 
assault on La Haye Saiute cannot 
be stated precisely. He had origin- 
ally his own battalion of the King's 
German Legion, 400 strong, which 
had been reinforced at different times 
by 3 companies of the Legion and 
2 of Nassau troops ; but the losses in 
the previous attacks had been severe, 
and the garrison probably numbered 
now not more than 500. But the 
Germans were eager for the fight. 
At the close of the previous attack, 
after the burning barn had been ex- 
tinguished, the officers directed those 
who had been hurt to retire to the 
main line, while communication was 
open ; but the men replied, " So long 
as our officers fight and we can stand, 
we will not leave the spot." One 
man, Frederick Lindau by name, 
had taken a large bag of gold from 
a French officer, and had received 
two severe wounds in the head while 
defending the entrance to the barn : 
Baring personally desired him to 
withdraw, and was answered, " None 
but a scoundrel would desert you, 
while his head remains on his 
shoulders : " so he stayed, was taken 
prisoner, and lost his gold. = But 
the abominable negligence about the 



ammunition supply neutralised all 
the heroism of the defenders. Two 
excuses were made— that communi- 
cation was cut off between the post 
and the main line, and that the need 
was for rifle ammunition. As to the 
former, communication existed often 
enough to allow frequent reinforce- 
ments and was several times quite 
uninterrupted : as to the latter, 2 out 
of the 4 battalions of Ompteda's bri- 
gade, close bj^, were armed with 
rifles, as was Kempt's 95 th regiment 
directly across the Charleroi road. 
Kennedy, after saying that " this 
matter had certainly been grossly 
mismanaged," continues : " Baring 
could not account for it, which I 
know from our having slept together 
on the ground close to the Welling- 
ton Tree on the night after the ac- 
tion, when he mentioned his having 
sent more than once for a supply of 
ammunition and his having received 
no answer. The unexplained want 
of ammunition by Baring's battalion 
is placed in an extraordinary view 
when it is considered that the battle 
of Waterloo lasted eight hours and 
a half, and that all the three bri- 
gades of the division got the ammu- 
nition thej' required with the excep- 
tion of this one battalion." 



IV. 



Ney's attack upon La Have Sainte was made while Battle of 

. . . Waterlcc. 

these various conflicts were taking place along the 
right wing. The garrison of the farm was strong enougli, 
perhaps, so far as numbers were concerned, and the men 
were resolute, willing to fight determinedly ; but Bar- 
ing's repeated requisitions for ammunition were still 
disregarded, and upon counting the cartridges it ap- 
peared that there was only an average of four to each 
man.^"^ The attack by the French infantry was as 
usual preceded by a tremendous cannonade, directed in 



June i8. 
IV. 



314 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

this case against the portion of the Allied line imme- 
diately in rear of La Haye Sainte and sweeping the 
ground over which succour might pass to the defenders 
— the fire telling with terrible severity upon the already 
scanty remains of Ompteda's squares and Somerset's and 
Ponsonby's squadrons in their rear.'-^*^^ Covered by this 
fire, a column of Donzelot's division, led by Ney him- 
self, moved forward ; their advance was checked by a 
flight of rockets discharged by Whinyates' rocket- 
battery along the Charleroi road, every one of which 
told ; but this seemed only to increase their fury, and 
when the rockets were expended they dashed on to the 
old attack, and especially upon the opening in the barn. 
Again they set the barn on fire, and again the Germans 
extinguished the flames, using the kettles as before, and 
suflJerino" much from the French nmsket fire. The Ger- 
mans husbanded their few cartridges to the utmost, but 
they were nearly spent, and the fire of the garrison was 
dwindling; into insignificance. Barinof had sent attain — 
for the fourth time — for ammunition, saying that, unless 
it was forthcoming, he must and would abandon the 
post ; the men, left unable to retaliate, lost spirit, but 
professed their readiness to fight on if they had but the 
means ; even the officers, who had all day been as 
ardent as Baring himself, now represented to him the 
uselessness of trying longer to hold the buildings ; and 
the French, discovering the condition of the defenders, 
made a desperate assault. They broke in the western 

^°® The two heavy cavalry bri- Edward Somerset to withdraw his 
gades were extended in single file to men from the range of the enemy's 
make their force appear as strong as guns. The latter sent back word 
possible to the enemy, and they con- that, were he to do so, the Dutch- 
sequently suffered much from the Belgian cavalry, who were in sup- 
artillery. "On perceiving its effects," port, would immediately move off 
says Siborne, " Lord Uxbridge sent the field ! Somerset retained his 
an aide-de-camp to recommend Lord position until the end of the battle." 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 315 



door of the building next the barn, and sought to press Battle of 
through into the yard ; but the Germans met them with tlL^' 
the bayonet within the buildino- and held them back. ^^ * 

. . . *" IV. 

Stopped at this point, parties scaled the outer wall and 
climbed from it upon the roofs, whence they picked off 
the Germans in the yard below, who could no longer 
fire back, and were thus at their mercy. Eesistance at 
the great entrance of the barn was thus made impos- 
sible, and here the French swarmed in, massacring those 
whom they could reach. Baring had ordered his men 
to retire through the dwelhng-house into the garden, 
and an attempt was made to hold the narrow passage 
through the house ; but the French, firing down the 
passage, rendered it a mere death-trap to those within. 
The dwelling once in the enemy's hands, the garden 
became untenable ; the officers directed the men to 
retire singly and as they best could to the main position ; 
and the survivors, passing, for the most part, from the 
garden to the opposite side of the Charleroi road, sought 6 p.m. 
their respective regiments. ^'^'^ Thus Ney, after the 

-'-''' The hour at which La Haye Hooper wrote thus Lefore the publi- 

Sainte was taken has been much cation of the Notes by Kennedy, 

disputed. Hooper says about it, who was an observant spectator of 

" Major Baring, it is but just to say, what passed at La Haye Sainte, who 

contends that he did not quit the closely noted the sequence of events, 

farm until after 6 o'clock. Cap- and who shows that Ney made his 

tain Siborne has adopted the same push for the farm a/tej- he had been 

view. But we cannot accept this convinced of tlie inutility of the 

version. The Duke of Wellington cavalry attacks. Siborne's date is 

said that La Haye Sainte was taken undoubtedly correct. = The horrible 

about 2, Napoleon at 3, and other butchery that followed the taking of 

writers later. Charras, on the La Haye Sainte is not concealed 

authority of an officer present, fixes by the French writers. Thiers says 

the period of the capture at a little of Ney's attack : " This illustrious 

before 4 ; it was probably taken a Marshal certainly needed no stimu- 

little after. Tlie grand cavalry at- lus, for his peerless bravery seemed 

tacks may have been begun a on this day to surpass the capabilities 

little before the farmstead was of mere man. . . . Excited by this 

cleared, but it is very doubtful." example, the soldiers forced the 



3i6 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



June i8. 



failure of repeated and persistent attacks, had achieved 
the conquest of La Haye Sainte — the first advantage of 



door of the farm-house, entered 
under a fearful fusillade, and mas- 
sacred the battalion of German light 
infantry that was defending it. Of 
500 men only 40 with 5 officers 
escaped." Thiers, as usual, knows 
little of the actual circumstances. 
Sihorne accounts for all the officers, 
giving their names. There were 27 
in all, of whom 5 were killed, 10 
wounded, 2 taken prisoners, and 10 
escaped unhurt. = The Erckiuaun- 
Ghatrian conscript was in this at- 
tacldng column, and describes its 
adventures graphically. A column 
of Donzelot's division was prepared, 
he says, and Ney came up to them. 
"■ The Marshal then rode along the 
front of our 2 battalions with his 
sword drawn, I had never seen 
him so near since the grand review 
at AschafFenbourg. He seemed 
older, thinner, and more bony, but 
still the same man ; he looked at us 
with his sharp grey e^'es, as if he 
took us all in at a glance, and each 
one felt as if he were looking di- 
rectly at him. At the end of a 
second he pointed toward Haye 
Sainte with his sword, and exclaimed, 
' We are going to take that ; you 
will have the whole at once ; it is 
the turning-point of the battle. I 
am going to lead you myself. Bat- 
talions, by file to the left ! ' We 
started at a quick step on the road, 
marching by companies in three 
ranks. I was in the second. Mar- 
shal Ney was in front, on horseback. 
... As we approached the build- 
ings the report of the musketry be- 
came more distinct from the roar 
of the cannon, and we could better 
see the flash of guns from the win- 



dows, and the great black roof 
above in the smoke, and the road 
blocked up with stones. We went 
along by a hedge, behind which 
crackled the fire of our skirmishers, 
for the first brigade of Alix's divi- 
sion had not quitted the orchards, 
and on seeing us filing along the road 
they commenced to shout ' Vive 
rEmpei-eur.^ = lie [Ney] disappeared 
in the smoke with two or three 
officers, and we all started on a run, 
our cartridge-boxes dangling about 
our hips, and our muskets at the 
' ready,' Far to the rear they were 
beating the charge. We did not see 
the Marshal again till we reached a 
shed which separated the garden 
from the road, when we discovered 
him on horseback before the main 
entrance. It appeared that they had 
already tried to force the door, as 
there was a heap of dead men, tim- 
bers, paving stones, and rubbish 
piled up before it, reaching to the 
middle of the road. The shot poured 
from every opening in the building, 
and the air was heavy with the 
smell of powder. ' Break that in ! ' 
shouted the Marshal. Fifteen or 
twenty of us dropped our muskets, 
and, seizing beams, we drove them 
against the door with such force that it 
cracked and echoed back to the blows 
like thunder. You wovdd have 
thought it would drop at every 
stroke. We could see through the 
planks the paving-stones heaped as 
high as the top inside. It was full of 
holes, and when it fell it might have 
crushed us, but fmy had rendered 
us blind to danger. We no longer 
had any resemblance to men ; some 
had lost their shakos, others had 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 



?>n 



the day gained by the French. At last he was withm 
striking distance of the hitherto invulnerable enemy ; 



Rattle of 
Waterloo. 



their clothes nearly torn off; the 
blood ran from their fingers and 
down their sides, and at every dis- 
charge of musketry the shot from 
the hill sti'uck the paving-stones, 
pounding them to dust around us. 
. . . Our rage redoubled, and as the 
timbers went back and forth we 
grew furious to find that the door 
would not come down, when sud- 
denly we heard shouts of * Vive 
VEmpereur ! ' from the court, ac- 
companied by a most horrible up- 
roar. Every one knew that our 
troops had gained an entrance into 
the enclosure. We dropped the 
timbers, and seizing our guns we 
sprang through the breaches into 
the garden to find where the others 
had entered. It was in the rear of 
the house, through a door opening 
into the barn. We rushed through, 
one after the other, like a pack of 
wolves. The interior of this old 
structure, with its lofts full of hay 
and straw, and its stables covered 
with thatch, looked like a bloody 
nest which had been attacked by a 
sparrow-hawk. On a great dung- 
heap in the middle of the court our 
men were bayoneting the Germans, 
who were yelling and swearing 
savagely." The conscript dwells on 
the massacre, and the troubles in 
which he and some comrades in- 
volved themselves by taking prison- 
ers instead of killing ; but the story 
is too long for quotation. = Siborne, 
in a note, gives the following details 
of the escape of the German officers 
and the barbarity of the victors : — 
" The passage through the farm- 
house to the garden in the rear was 
narrow, and here the officers en- 



deavoured to halt the men and 
make one more charge, but as the 
French had already commenced tir- 
ing down the passage, this was found 
impracticable. Ensign Frank, on 
perceiving a French soldier levelling 
his musket at Lieut. Graeme, called 
out to the latter to take care ; but, 
as he was still trying to rally his 
men, he replied, ' Never mind : let 
the rascal fii'e.' At this instant 
the piece was levelled, but it fell to 
the groimd with its owner, whom 
Ensign Frank had stabbed in time to 
save his friend. The French were 
now rushing into the house, and the 
foremost of them having fired at 
Ensign Frank, his arm was shattered 
by the bullet. Nevertheless he con- 
trived to obtain shelter in a bed- 
chamber, and succeeded in concealing 
himself under the bed. Two of the 
men also took refuge in the same 
room, but the French followed close 
at their heels, crying, ' Pas de pardon 
a ces coquins verds ! ' and shot them 
close to Ensign Frank, who had the 
well-merited good fortune of remain- 
ing undiscovered until the house again 
fellinto thehands of tlie Allies. Lieut. 
Grgeme, who had continued in the 
passage, was suddenly seized by the 
collar by a French officer, who ex- 
claimed to his men, ' C'est ce coquinT 
Their bayonets were immediately 
thrust at him, but he managed to 
parry them with his sword, and, as 
the officer for a moment relinquished 
his grasp, Graeme darted along the 
passage, the French firing two shots 
after him and calling out ' Coquin ! ' 
but they did not follow him, and he 
succeeded in rejoining the remnant of 
his battalion." 



Juue i8. 
IV. 



June i8. 
IV. 



318 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of he could tum aojainst him his own stronghold : with an 

Waterloo. . o ' 

adequate force he could instantly sweep away anything 
the Allies had then before him, crush their weakened 
centre, and overwhelm their attenuated line. Impatient 
to follow up his advantage, the Marshal sent to the 
Emperor for infantry reinforcements. But the message 
reached the Emperor at a moment when he was already 
irritated by the destruction of his cavalry, and impatient 
of any interruption to his own absorbing task of dealing 
with Bliiclier's unlooked-for onslaught, and, galled by 
this fresh demand upon his already overtaxed resources, 
he pettishly retorted upon Col. Heymes with the bitter 
inquiry whether he was expected to " make " infantry. ^°^ 
Ney's indomitable resolution was proof against even this 
rebuff: his master's refusal to give him troops from the 
reserves forbade his making the formidable attack by 
columns in mass of battalions, which he had purposed 
launching from La Haye Sainte upon the exhausted 
troops immediately before him ; but he could still collect 
from the well-worn corps of Keille and D'Erlon a certain 
amount of force with which to essay a system of assault 
in which the French soldiery were adepts — the " grand 
attack en tirailleurs ." He now set himself to organise 
from whatever troops he found within reach that suc- 
cession of attacks which thenceforth went on continu- 

-°^ See page 305. = Even Thiers PriiS3ians ■with what indeed "would 

is forced to admit how fatally ill- be only the remnant of his troops, 

judged was this refusal of Napo- but troops flushed with victory. But 

leon's: he says: "Certainly had he he distrusted Ney's judgment, he 

himself seen the state of the British could not forgive his precipitation, 

army described by Ney, and had not and he could see the entire Prussian 

the danger on his right increasad, army emerging from that yawning 

Lobaus corps alone would have suf- abyss which was continually pour- 

ficed to keep Biilow in check ; and ing forth fresh masses of enemies." 

Napoleon might have led the in- Thiers thus accounts, and no doubt 

fantry of the Guard against the Eng- correctly, for Napoleon's neglect of 

lish, and completed their destruc- his single opportunity on this day to 

tion, and then returned to oppose the deal his enemy a decisive blow. 



IV. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 319 

ously, and constantly increased in violence, until the Battle of 
battle had been determined elsewhere — attacks which t^°* 
almost assured him the destruction of the Allied centre, 
if not absolute victory. 

Before Key's new attacks from La Haye Sainte could 
be fully developed, the Duke of Wellington, on the right 
of his line, had opportunity to re-establish that part of 
his position which had been saved from imminent over- 
throw by the coming up of the horse-batteries to the 
front. Thotigh saved for the moment, the state of 
things in this quarter was still critical — a number of 
the Allied guns had become disabled by the enemy's 
fire ; the remains of Byng's Guards, who were defending 
Hougomont, had been driven back into the " hollow- 
way " on its northern boundary, leaving the orchard 
to the French infantry, who were mustering there in 
great numbers ; the cannonade had told terribly upon 
the Brunswick troops ; and the supporting cavalry, 
besides being much diminished, were exhausted by 
repeated charges. Bodies of French cavalry were now 
being prepared, at the foot of the slope and along the 
eastern side of Hougomont, with the apparent design 
of surrounding its enclosures, so as to cut off communi- 
cation between the outpost and the main position, and 
of forcing the right of the hne itself. It was at this 
juncture that the approach of Chasse's Dutch-Belgian 
division, which Wellington had ordered up from Braine- 
la-Leude to meet this emergency ,^^^ enabled him to bring 
into the front the troops hitherto in the second line — 
Clinton's 2d division, consisting of Du Plat's ist brigade 
of the King's German Legion, Adam's 3d British brigade, 
and Col. Hew Halkett's 3d Hanoverian brigade. Lord 
Hill — commander of the 2d corps, to which Chnton's 

^°^ See page 294. 



320 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of division belonged — -led forward Da Plat's brigade from its 

Waterloo. 



June i8. 
IV. 



previous position on tlie west of tlie Nivelles road. As its 
leading battalion drew near the brow of the ridge, some 
gunners ran in upon it for shelter from pursuing cuiras- 
siers ; and the 4 light companies of the brigade, who 
were armed with rifles and who found partial shelter 
from a clump of trees, delivered a fire that made the 
horsemen withdraw, a party of Alhed cavalry pursuing. 
The brigade then advanced until its foremost battalion 
was near the hedge of the Hougomont orchard, when it 
became engaged with the French infantry skirmishers. 
Presently the Allied dragoons who had just charged 
retreated hurriedly through the intervals of its columns, 
and the brigade became aware of a fresh body of hostile 
cavalry on its left-front. Sympher's horse-battery fired 
upon these through the intervals, and the columns kept 
up a well-sustained file-fire ; but the cuirassiers, ad- 
vancing resolutely, attacked the battery, the gunners 
seeking shelter either among the infantry or under the 
gun-carriages, until Du Plat's musketry .fire caused such 
loss among the horsemen that they retired in disorder, 
followed as usual by a discharge from the battery. 
Three battalions of the Brunswickers had followed on 
the left of the Germans, and aided in resisting the 
cavalry charge ; but when that was over they sought 
shelter from the renewed fire that followed it, and with- 
drew to the reverse slope of the heights. The French 
skirmishers, during the operations of the cavalry, had 
gathered in great force in tlie Hougomont orchard and 
alono- its eastern boundary, and they now poured a very 
severe fire upon the Germans. Du Plat himself fell 
mortally wounded ; several other officers fell ; all who 
were mounted had their horses shot under them ; and 
this hot work continued until, with a sudden cessation 
of the fire, came a renewed cavalry charge, which was 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOUETH ATTACK. 32 1 

repelled as before, as was also a third, — the Germans Battle of 

withstanding the cavalry as resolutely as their allies on * 

their left had done. ^Durinsj these attacks by the horse- ' 

men upon Du Plat, the French infantry had crept up 
in great numbers under that part of the slope behind 
which the Brunswick troops had retired for shelter from 
the cannonade. At the same time, at the back of the 
slope, Lord Hill was bringing forward, in columns, 
Adam's British brigade of light infantry. Suddenly the 
French skirmishers crowned the crest of the heights, 
and were instantly hidden by the smoke from the fire 
which they poured into the Alhed artillery and the 
squares, — cutting down the gunners mercilessly, and 
driving them in upon the squares, which also suffered 
greatly by this concentrated fire from an enemy in line. 
It was now that Adam's brigade came up, and the Duke 
of Wellington, galloping to their front, ordered them to 
form line, and, pointing to the French skirmishers, 
called out, " Drive those fellows away ! " The brigade, 
cheering, swept up the slope, drove the French before 
them, crossed the ridge, and, bringing forward the right 
shoulder, closed the opening between Maitland's brigade 
of Guards and the north-eastern angle of Hougomont.^^*' 

^^1° Tlie order now taken by Adam's regiments was tliis : — 
Adam's brigade. 



Maitland's 

1st brio:. Guards. 



95th 
2d bat. 



5 2d 
71st 



95tb 
3d bat.- 



Hougomont 
Orchard 



Waterloo 
June i8. 
IV. 



122 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. - 

Battle of Upon tlie new array of squares thus obtruded from 
the main position into the plain, the French carbineers 
and horse-grenadiers of the Guard made a succession 
of gallant charges : advancing along the Hougomont 
boundary, they were generally thrown into disorder by 
the fire from the squares of the 71st regiment, and 
their confusion was completed when they rode into that 
of the 52d ; and they were at last brought to utter dis- 
comfiture by a well-combined cross-fire from the rifle 
company of the 95th, attached to the 71st, together 
with the musketry from the face of the square of the 
71st, both at very short distance.^^^ Hew Halkett's 
Hanoverian brigade had by this time been advanced by 
Lord Hill to the exterior slope of the main ridge, back 
of Hougomont and in support of Du Plat's brigade ; so 
that now the main position and Hougomont were so 
firmly linked together by troops that no pressure of the 
enemy could endanger that part of the hue. The ex- 
tremely advanced position of Adam's brigade, however, 
exposed it to a very severe cannonade from the French 
batteries on the central elevation — the same, probably, 
that destroyed Mercer's battery ; and it was presently 
withdrawn to the reverse slope of the main position, 
where on the right of Maitland's Guards it remained 
ready to advance against any attack in this direction.^^^ 

In tlie hurry of the advance, the wounded; hut by far the greater 
5 2d was not in line with the other part were thrown down over the 
regiments, but in their rear ; and, dead, the dying, and the wounded, 
when they formed squares, it moved These, after a short interval, began 
into the interval between them. From to extricate themselves from the 
the same cause the 3d battalion of mass, and made the best of their way 
the 95th regiment got into position back to their supports, some on horse- 
next the 7 1st, and remained with it. back, but most of them on foot." 

^^^ " In an instant," says Siborne, '^'^" To understand the formation 

"one half of the attacking force of tlie brigade when next called upon 

was on the ground ; some few men to meet an attack, it sliould be re- 

and horses were killed ; more were membered that, during this alter- 



^. 



Grant, E 



^. 



«/^ 



e^; 



Remains of Anglu- Allied Cavalry. 



' H: 



w 



D'dnibei 


r/> E 




M 






ft 










P 


a 




ft 


01 




^ 




w 


5^ 


S H 




q 


ft ^ 




ft 
















w 










% 


o 





Arentsscliildt, K 



Somerset, E 
Ponsoiiby, E 



2 r^l Oi 
M W O 



DONZELC 



Mitchell g 



Hougo mont I 



Pire 



1-5 P^ 



French Caralrt/ 
and Bachelu 



La Haye Sainte 



Friant — 

MOEAND— 



ont St. Jean 



acke, H 



Sand-pit 



Alix Maecognet 



ITo face page 323. 



Jacquiiwt 



La Belle 
Alliance 



Id Guard 
iddle Giiard 



lauch euoit 



Kl 

a ^ 
OQ in 

pi 



S2 



Papelotte 


i \ 




La 


Haye 


> Peepoxc 




1 Smohain 


'^ \ ^ 




: FrischermoL 






/ Losthin ^ 


'-'N 






> 






Hacke 





to 
cj: 
ir) 


Ryssel 
Hiller 


W / 











BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 323 



Waterloo. 

June 18. 

IV. 



The attitude which the troops had assumed at the Battle of 
time of Ney's attack from La Haye Sainte is best under- 
stood from a diagram. ^^^ 

Ney lost Httle time, after he was estabhshed in La 
Haye Sainte, in setting in motion his renewed attack 
upon the Alhed hne. On his left, fresh efforts were 
made to take Hougomont, and both Bachelu's infantry 
division and the remains of the cavalry were engaged 
in those assaults which Wellington had withstood by 
bringing forward his reserves. 



nation of cavalry charges with tlie 
cannonade and musketry fire, it had 
been compelled frequently to form 
squares and then deploy into line. 
"■ The 5 2d," Kennedy explains, "was 
at one time in squares of wings, and 
afterwards, the companies having 
formed their left behind their right 
subdivisions, the battalions, by clos- 
ing the companies, formed a line 
four deep, and continued in that 
four-deep formation during the re- 
mainder of the action." = To the 
period just described — when Adam's 
brigade was meeting the attempt of 
the French to force the Allied right 
— should probably be referred Wel- 
lington's exclamation to its com- 
mander, " By G — , Adam, I think 
we shall beat them yet ! " This 
incident, subsequently related by 
Adam to Kennedy, the latter con- 
siders " of much historical interest," 
adding, " From what other source 
do we know what the Duke's feel- 
ings were, up to that period, as to 
the possible issue of the action ? " 

^12 The diagram in two cases 
anticipates the point as yet reached 
by the narrative: (i) a portion of 
the Brunswick troops were shortly 
employed to till a gap in the Allied 
line between Kruse's and Sir 0. Hal- 



On his right, such of 



kett's brigades ; (2) Ditmar's and 
D'Aubreme's Dutch -Belgian bri- 
gades (of Ohasse's division) were 
brought up from the west of the 
Nivelles road into the second line, 
for a similar purpose. The Dutch- 
Belgian caA'alry are wholly omitted 
from the diagram, as they did no 
fighting. Byng's entire brigade of 
British Guards was by this time 
drawn into the defence of Hougo- 
mont, as was also, shortly afterwards, 
a part of Du Plat's brigade of the 
King's German Legion. Brigades of 
different divisions had now become 
so intermingled in the Allied line 
that the names of the corps- and 
division-commanders are omitted in 
the diagram. = It is somewhat curious 
that both Gen, H. W. Halleck, in his 
translation of Jomini's Life of Na- 
2}oleon, and Capt. S. V. Benet, in 
that of the same author's Cami^aign 
of 18 1 5, should state that Welling- 
ton, at this time, was " reinforced 
by the Belgian brigade de chasse.''^ 
Puzzled, evidently, to know what 
denomination of force this might be, 
they have been content to leave the 
French, as they supposed, untrans- 
lated. The troops were in fact Gen. 
Chass^'s Dutch-Belgian division. 



Y 2 



June 18. 
IV. 



324 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 

D'Erlon's troops as were not otherwise employed — that 
is, the reorganized divisions of Ahx and Marcognet — 
were pushed forward in skirmishing order against the 
infantry of the Allied left wing, which was much 
weakened by its repulse of the first French charge. At 
La Haye Sainte Ney personally directed the operations 
by which he hoped to break through the Allied centre. 
Erom the farm-house, the garden, and the highroad 
beside it, such a fire was opened upon the two companies 
of Kempt's 95 th British rifles occupying the sand-pit 
and knoll on the further side of the Charleroi road, that 
the riflemen, Avho were also pressed in front at the same 
time by Alix's skirmishers, were driven back upon their 
main body along the Wavre road. The French next 
proceeded to push two guns through the garden hedge 
to the bank of the highroad, whence they began to fire 
grape into Kempt's brigade ; but this was very soon 
ended by the rifles, whose fire destroyed the gunners 
before they could discharge a second round. = A large 
body of French infantry at the same time emerged on 
the left from the cover of the farm, and, spreading into 
a close line of skirmishers, opened a fire which was 
concentrated upon the squares of Alten's division, and 
did great execution among their compact ranks. Alten 
sent an order to Ompteda to deploy one of his bat- 
talions, if practicable, and disperse the enemy; but 
Ompteda had noticed a body of French cavalry lying 
in wait in the hollow westward of La Haye Sainte which 
the tirailleurs for the moment concealed ; and, knowing 
the danger to which the battalion would be exposed if 
deployed before cavalry, returned an answer, explaining 
the circumstances. " At this moment of hesitation the 
Prince of Orange rode up to Ompteda and ordered him 
to deploy. The latter respectfully submitted the same 
opinion he had before expressed to Alten's messenger ; 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOUETH ATTACK. 325 

wliereupon his Eoyal Higliness became impatient, re- Battle of 
peated the order, and forbade further reply. Ompteda, t^°- 

with the true spirit of a soldier, instantly deployed the " 

5th line battalion, placed himself at its head, and gal- 
lantly led it against the mass of tirailleurs who had 
continued to crowd forward, and under whose teasing 
fire the Germans displayed the greatest steadiness and 
bravery. The French gave way as the line advanced 
at the charge, and as it approached the garden of La 
Haye Sainte they suddenly and rapidly sought shelter 
along the hedges. In the next moment the battahon 
was furiously assailed by a regiment of cuirassiers, who, 
taking the line in its right flank, fairly rolled it up. 
This cavalry charge, preconcerted with great skill, and 
executed with amazing rapidity, proved awfully de- 
structive to the courageous but unfortunate Germans, 
and fully and fatally confirmed the truth of the un- 
heeded prediction of their intrepid commander. So 
severe was the loss sustained that out of the whole 
battalion not more than 30 men with a few officers were 
gradually collected in the hollow-way that lay along 
the front of the left of the brigade. Amongst the slain 
was Ompteda himself, who, with his followers, thus fell 
a sacrifice to the absence of that precaution, the neces- 
sity for which he had vainly endeavoured to impress 
upon his superior officer." '-^^^ The cuirassiers who were 

^^^ The quoted passage is Si- placed under the Royal Highness's 

borne's, and his words, chosen -with command. It should be remembered 

unusual care, are the manifest result that at Quatre Bras, two days be- 

of a conflict between his deference fore, the Prince of Orange had 

for a " Royal Highness," reinforced, caused the 69th regiment to be cut to 

moreover, by the restraints of the pieces under precisely the same cir- 

quasi-official military reporter, and cumstances — by ordering the deploy- 

a soldierly indignation at the pre- ment of a square in defiance of a 

sumptuous meddling which thus, for commander who knew that it was 

the second time, wantonly destroyed about to be charged by cavalry, 

the troops so unfortunate as to be Certainly the Allies were heavily 



326 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

Battle of thus cuttm£^ tliG unfortimate Germans to pieces were 

Waterloo. . 

' under the rifles of the men of the 95th, who watched 

■ ' the scene from beyond the Cliarleroi road, but were 

unable to fire without destroying friend as well as foe ; 
but presently came an opportunity when they poured 
in a deadly volley, and at the same instant the 3d 
hussars of the King's German Legion charged, and 
completely cleared the front of Ompteda's brigade. 
Supports, however, came up to the cuirassiers, and, 
after a momentary struggle, forced the hussars to 
retire. = On the left of the French troops which had 
achieved this success over Alten's division, others 
essayed the same manoeuvre against Maitland's brigade. 
A mass of tirailleurs ascended the slope, and from an 
extended front directed a rapid and concentric fire into 
Maitland's left-hand square, while another party, still 
more on the (French) left, fired in the same manner 
upon the square formed by Adam's 95th rifles. Seeing 
how this fire told upon the squares, the Duke of Wel- 
lington rode up to the attacked battalion of the Guards 
and ordered it to form line and drive the skirmishers 
down the slope. This they did with perfect success, 
and were equally successful in re-forming the square 
when a body of cavalry moved up to charge them. 
The Guards, having delivered a volley into the horse- 
men, retired in good order to their position on the 
heights ; and the cavalry, dashing on into the front of 
Adam's brigade, was nearly destroyed by the fire from 
the 5 2d regiment. Toward this end of the Allied hne 
the fury of the French attack was at this time chiefly 
directed upon Hougomont, which proved able to take 

handicapped by their valuahle crea- of that political crime that the pun- 
tion, the Kingdom of the Nether- ishment fell — at least in these in- 
lands ; hut, unfortunately, it was stances, 
not upon the authors or beneficiaries 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 327 

care of itself : it was at the centre only that their efforts Battle of 

seemed likely to win success. = About the rear of La " 

Haye Sainte the contest had gone on without cessation. — — ' 
The French skirmishers occupied the garden, the bank 
of the Charleroi road, and especially the knoll by the 
sand-pit beyond it, and, concealing themselves as 
much as possible by lying or kneehng, except when 
they rose to fire, kept up a very rapid and persevering 
discharge against the brigades of Lambert and Kempt 
along the Wavre road ; and these replied with equal 
spirit, though they lost heavily. ^^^ On their left of the 
Charleroi road swarms of French skirmishers continued 
to press the portion of the line occupied by Alten's 
division. One group occupied a mound at the 
junction of the two roads some 60 yards distant from 
the remains of Ompteda's brigade, who were now com- 
pletely overmatched in numbers, and had besides 
exhausted their ammunition, so that many on this 
account fell to the rear.^^^ In this part of the line, 

^^^ Thiers represents Ney as -whom, as will always be found in 
coming up to this point to encourage the best armies, were glad to escape 
D'Erlon in his attack on the Wavre from the field. These thronged the 
road : — " ' Keep firm, friend,' he said road leading to Brussels, in a man- 
to him, 'for if you and I do not ner that none but an eye-witness 
fall here beneath the bullets of the could believe." In a note Pringie 
English, we shall certainly fall be- adds : " Numbers of those who had 
neath those of the emigrants.' Sad quitted the field of battle, and — let 
and bitter prophecy! This peer- the truth be spoken — Englishmen 
less hero, going from his infantry to too, fled from the town [Brussels], 
his cavalry, sustained their courage and never halted until they reached 
under the enemy's fire, whilst he Antwerp. This is too well attested 
himself seemed invulnerable amidst to be doubted." Gleig states that 
the baUs that rained around." " officers as well as privates " were 

'^'^ Many, no doubt, retired for among the fugitives. Scott, in PawZ's 
sufficient reasons, but the tide that Letters, records how the baggage, 
set rearwards, on one pretext or " having been ordered to retreat 
another or on none at all, was by during the action, became embar- 
this time very great. Pringie says rassed in the narrow causeway lead- 
that an excessive number withdrew ing through the great Forest of 
to look after the wounded, " some of Soignies and was there fairly sacked 



o 



28 QUATRE BRAS, LTGNY, AND WATERLOO, 



June I 
IV. 



Battle of battalionsof men had dwindled to scores or dozens ; sonib 
were commanded by subalterns ; Somerset's and Pon- 
sonby's united cavalry brigades did not amount to two 
squadrons, and the other British and German cavalry of 
the right wing were similarly wasted ; most of the bat- 
teries had been silenced wholly or in part, so that in one 
place two British artillerymen were seen labouring to 
serve two guns until material for loading was exhausted, 
and in another the Duke of Wellington came upon a 
Belgian 6-gun battery with not a man to claim it, and he 
therefore had it removed to the rear. The 3d division in 
particular was in woful plight : Alten, its commander, 
had been carried, wounded, from the field ; Ompteda's 
brigade was nearly exterminated and almost without 
formation ; Kielmansegge's two squares were greatly 
diminished in size ; Kruse's Nassau brigade, next on 
their right, were greatly shaken under the continued 
fire ; and the interval thence to Sir Colin Halkett's 
British brigade, which was also much reduced, had 
become very great. In short, not enough men survived 
to cover the position, and there was virtually a gap 
in the Alhed line extending from Halkett's brigade to 
the Charleroi road. At this point Lambert had formed 
the 27th British regiment in square, in the north-eastern 
angle of the two roads, so as either to confront an 

and pillaged by the runaway Belgians Plague, with a letter to the King of 
and the peasantry — a disgraceful the Netherlands concluding in these 
scene, which nothing but the bril- words :■ — " Je ne yeux pas com- 
liancy of the great victorj^, and the mander de tels officiers. Je suis 
consequent enthusiasm of joy, could assez longtemps soldat pour savoir 
have allowed to be passed over with- que les pillards, et ceux qui les en- 
out strict enquiry." This pillaging couragent, ne valeut rien devant 
propensity of the Dutch-Belgians I'enuemi ; et je n'en veux pas." = As 
proved ungovernable during the to the fugitives from the battle, they 
march to Paris, and the Duke of had become so numerous that Zie- 
Wellington made an example of two ten's corps, on approaching the field, 
officers who flagrantly offended, believed the Anglo-Allied army gene- 
sending them under arrest to the rally to be in retreat. 



June i8. 



IV. 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 329 

advance up the Cliarleroi road, or to cover the ap- Battle of 
parently imminent retreat of Ompteda's and Kielman- 
segge's brigades. Upon this enfeebled front the French 
about La Haye Sainte now made another onset. To 
secure their right flank during their intended advance 
upon Alten, they began with so heavy a fire upon 
Lambert that within a few minutes more than half the 
men of the 27th fell. Then, while clouds of skirmishers 
poured up the slope in Alten's front, they ran forward 
two guns in advance of the north-eastern angle of the 
garden, and at a distance of 150 paces, and afterwards 
of only 100, fired grape-shot into Kielmanfiegge's left- 
hand square, — one discharge completely blowing away 
an entire side of the square. Under this and the mus- 
ketry fire, which never slackened, the square soon 
became a mere clump of men ; its commander and 
most of the ofiicers had fallen ; and its ammunition was 
nearly sj)ent. The tirailleurs continued to press for- 
ward in compact line, when in their rear was heard the 
sound of drums beating the charge, which announced 
the coming of columns. To avert the forcing of the 
line which now seemed almost inevitable, the Prince of 
Orange ordered Kruse's ist and 2d Nassau battalions to 
charge, and put himself at their head. As they came 
under the fire of the French, the Prince received a 
bullet-wound in his shoulder,^^'^ the attack failed, the 

2^'^ The Prince of Orange's wound the actions of Quatre Bras and Wa- 

was regarded as a great piece of luck terloo, and the wound which (it 

for him. Scott says in PauVs Letters, may be almost said fortunately) he 

writing at the time when it was the received upon the latter occasion, 

fashion to augur good things for the have already formed the strongest 

new Kingdom of the Netherlands: bond of union between his family 

" Nothing could have happened so and their new subjects, long unac- 

fortunate for the popularity of the customed to have sovereigns who 

House of Orange as the active and could lead them to battle, and 

energetic character of the hereditary shed their blood in the national 

prince. His whole behaviour during defence." 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



IV. 



330 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

Nassauers recoiled, and, under the vigorous onset of 
the French, they were carried, together with Kielman- 
segge's and Ompteda's brigades, 100 paces backwards. 
On the fall of the Prince of Orange, Capt. Shaw — after- 
wards Gen. Sir James Shaw Kennedy, whose own 
account is here followed — finding that apparently all 
the senior officers of the 3d division had fallen and that 
he was the only staff-officer present, galloped to the 
Duke of Wellington, then directing the defence being 
made by Maitland's Guards, and informed him that his 
line was open for the whole space between Halkett's 
and Kempt's brigades. The Duke answered, " I shall 
order the Brunswick troops to the spot, and other 
troops besides : go you and get all the German troops 
of the division on the spot that you can, and all the 
guns that you can find." Wellington — sending an 
order to the brigades of Chasse's Dutch-Belgian division 
to follow in support — himself led five battalions of the 
Brunswickers into the interval between Kruse's and Sir 
Colin Halkett's brigades. ^^^ But these reinforcements 



218 The Earl of Albemarle— who, 
it will be remembered, was an ensign 
in the 14th regiment, which was in 
Lord Hill's corps, and was at first 
stationed near the extreme right of 
the Allied line, acting witli Clinton's 
division — cites Kennedy's story tbat 
Wellmgton promised to "order the 
Brunswick troops to the spot, and 
other troops besides." He then pro- 
ceeds, in the following terms, to re- 
count the experience of the 14th: — 
" I presume that our regiment formed 
a portion of the 'other troops' whom 
the Commander-in-Chief sent to fill 
up the hiatus, for it must have been 
about this time that Capt. Bridge- 
man, one of Lord Hill's aides-de- 
camp, brought us the order to ad- 



vance. We marched in columns of 
companies. Emerging from the 
ravine we came upon an open valley, 
bounded on all sides by low hills. 
The hill in our front was fringed by 
the enemy's cannon, and we ad- 
vanced to our new position amid a 
shower of shot and shells. . . . We 
halted and formed square in the 
middle of the plain. As we were 
performing this movement, a bugler 
of the 51st, who had been out with 
skirmishers, and had mistaken our 
square for his own, exclaimed, 'Here 
I am again, safe enough.' The 
words were scarcely out of his 
mouth, when a round shot took off 
his head and spattered the whole 
battalion with his brains, the colours 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 



came suddenly under tlie heavy fire of tlie assailants, 
and in the thick smoke and confusion surrounding 
them they were unable to re-form properly from the 
irregularities caused by their hurried advance ; so that 
they too for the moment were borne backward by the 
vigorous dash of the French. But the Duke threw 
himself into the struggle, and by his voice and gestures 
ralhed the Bruns wickers ; Major von Norman's battalion 
first regained good order, stood its ground, and de- 
livered a fire that checked the enemy before it ; and its 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



and the ensigns in charge of them 
coming in for an extra share. One 
of them, Charles Eraser, a fine gen- 
tleman in speech and manner, raised 
a laugh by drawling out, ' Plow ex- 
tremely disgusting ! ' A second shot 
carried off six of the men's bayonets ; 
a third broke the breast-bone of a 
lance-sergeant (Robinson), whose 
piteous cries were anything but en- 
couraging to his youthful comrades. 
The soldier's belief that ' every bul- 
let has its billet ' was strengthened 
by ■ another shot striking Ensign 
Cooper, the shortest man in the regi- 
ment, and in the very centre of the 
square. These casualties were the 
affair of a second. We were now 
ordered to lie down. Our square, 
hardly large enough to hold us when 
standing upright, was too small for 
us in a recumbent position. Our 
men lay packed together like her- 
rings in a barrel. Not finding a va- 
cant spot, I seated myself on a drum. 
Behind me was the Colonel's charger, 
which, with his head pressed against 
mine, was mumbling mj' epaulette, 
while I patted his cheek. Suddenly 
my drum capsized and I w^as thrown 
prostrate, vsdth the feeling of a blow 
on the right cheek. I put my hand 
to my head, thinking half my face 



was shot away, but the skin was not 
even abraded. A piece of shell had 
struck the horse on the nose exactly 
between my hand and my head, and 
killed him instantl3\ The blow I 
received was from the embossed 
crown on the horse's bit. — The 
French artillerymen had now brought 
us so completely within range, that, 
if we had continued much longer in 
this exposed situation, I should pro- 
bably not have lived to tell my tale. 
We soon received the order to seek 
the shelter of a neighbouring hill. 
. , . Our new position was turther 
in advance, but less exposed to the 
enemy's fire. We were now about 
loo yards from the Nivelles chaussee, 
near to the abatis spoken of by 
Siborne, on which abatis the left 
W'ing of our right company rested. 
... On our right flank, and a little 
in advance, was a brigade of ar- 
tillery, which I find from a recent 
publication [Mercer's Journal of the 
Waterloo Campaign] was the 9th, 
under the command of Capt. Mercer, 
who in describing his position also 
marks ours." = For Mercer's position, 
at the period the Earl of Albemarle's 
description has now reached, see 
pages 307, 308, text. 



IV. 



June i8. 
IV. 



332 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of example broiif^lit the remaining Brunswick battalions 

Waterloo. ^ '=' ^^ ^ ■ i n^i t -, 

to assume an equally resolute attitude, ine stand thus 
made was seconded by the troops on the left, those of 
Kruse, Kielmansegge, and Ompteda ; and, having thus 
succeeded in stemming the French onset upon his 
centre, the Duke gallojDcd back to his right, to com- 
plete his interrupted preparations for the storm mani- 
festly about to break in that direction. At this critical 
moment Vivian's almost intact light cavalry brigade 
came up into the rear of the shaken troops. ^^^ The 
mere presence of such an effective force amid the general 
wreck went far to restore confidence ; and they, moreover, 
interposed with material effect, for the lotli hussars, 
drawing up with closed files, stopped the retreat of the 
Kassauers, who were falling back in a body, and Vivian 
and his aids rode among the disordered infantry and 
brought them back into formation at a time when they 
seemed on the point of giving way. Kielmansegge, too, 

219 Vivian had held with his and met Lord Uxbridge, who was 

"brigade the extreme left of the on his way to bring up the two bri- 

Allied line, and shortly before this gades, and who now sent Vandeleur 

had been informed by his patrols orders to follow, and himself rode 

that Zieten's corps was coming up with Vivian to the centre. The 

on the road from Ohain, and at the sight which greeted them there 

same time was made aware by Baron greatly surprised these horsemen, 

Miiffling — who was with this wing, hitherto out of sight of the actual 

awaiting Zieten — how urgently ca- fighting, and the scene of ruin was 

valry was needed in the centre. such as to persuade them that they 

Vivian at once proposed to Vande- had been brought up to cover a 

leur — who commanded the cavalry retreat. Vivian, looking in vain for 

division next on his right, and was the cavalry which he had left there, 

his senior officer- — that the two bri- asked of Lnrd Edward Somerset, 

gades should move to the centre. " Wher-e is your brigade P " " Here," 

But Vandeleur — who appears to have answered Somerset, pointing to a 

been a precisian as well as a churl : single squadron of horsemen and 

" a brave but cautious officer," is then to the dead and wounded men 

Hooper's phrase — declined to do any- and horses on the ground — all that 

thing without orders ; and Vivian remained of what a few hours before 

took the responsibility, put his bri- had been a force of 2,000 dragoons, 
gade in motion in rear of Vandeleur s, 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FOURTH ATTACK. 33; 



on whom the command of the 3d division had now 
devolved, showed great ability and coolness in restoring 
order, although the French skirmishers were again 
pushing up against the hne and plying it with an inces- 
sant fire. He led on the remains of the Hanoverians 
and German Legion at the double-quick, their drums 
rolling ; the Brunswickers responded to the movement ; 
the Nassauers, cheered on by Vivian and his officers, 
followed the advance ; the hussars came on in support. 
Before the general charge the French were forced to 
give way, and the variously constituted assemblage of 
Allied troops thus regained the position which the 3d 
division had long held so bravely. Thus the imj)erilled 
centre was restored just as the decisive movement of 
the action was approaching on the right. ^^"^ 



^-° Siborne's general summary of 
the character of the Allied troops 
contains the following mention of 
those engaged in this struggle for 
the maintenance of the centre : — 
" Of the troops of the King's German 
Legion, whether cavalry, infantry, 
or artillery, it is impossible to speak 
in terms of too high praise : suffice 
it to remark that their conduct was 
in every respect on a par with that 
of the British. ... Of the four Han- 
overian infantry brigades, that of 
Kielmansegge and a part of [Hew] 
Halkett's were the most actively en- 
gaged ; Best's stood almost the entire 
day on the extreme left of the front 
line of the Anglo- Allied infantry, and 
Vincke's in reserve in front of ]\Iont 
St. Jean. They had been but re- 
cently and hastily raised ; and yet 
the manner in which such raw sol- 
diers withstood, as Kielmansegge's 
brigade did, for so great a length of 
time the most furious assaults made 
by the gallant and well-disciplined 



troops of France, would have con- 
ferred honour on long-tried veterans. 
The Brunswickers, who were also 
composed of young soldiers, per- 
formed a glorious part in the battle, 
and amply revenged the death of 
their Prince. Some of their bat- 
talions were much shaken at the 
moment Alten's division was driven 
back a short distance, but they 
speedily rallied and resumed their 
lost ground. Altogether, their 
bravery, which was frequently called 
into action, and their endurance, 
which was severely tested, merited 
the strongest commendation. The 
troops constituting the Nassau bri- 
gade, under Kruse (or more properly 
the 1st regiment of the Nassau con- 
tingent), were attached to Alten's 
division. They were, consequently, 
often in the thick of the fight, and 
though, on the occasion above alluded" 
to, they were thrown into disorder 
and driven in by a furious onset of 
the enemy, they conducted them- 



B at tie of 
Waterloo. 

June 18. 

IV. 



7 P.M. 



334 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 

June i8. 

IV. 



At Hougomont, during the fourth period of the 
battle, the attack by the French had continued, having, 
indeed, never been intermitted since the action began. 
The heat and bhnding smoke from the burning buildings 
made the place almost intolerable to the nearest of the 
defenders, but they kept up so constant a lire as to 
prevent any chance of escalade, and though the orchard 
frequently changed owners, the walled enclosures were 



selves generally tliroughout the day 
with great steadiness." = An incident 
connected with the coming up of 
Chass^'s division is recounted hy the 
Eaii of Alhemarle, whose hattaliou 
of raw recruits belonging to the 14th 
regiment was at this time formed 
beside Capt. Mercer's battery on the 
extreme right of the Allied front line. 
" The steadiness of our peasant lads," 
he says, " which had already been 
tolerably tried, was about to be sub- 
jected to another test. There ap- 
peared on our right flank an armed 
force, some thousands strong, who 
advanced towards us singing and 
cheering. They wore the dress 
which the prints of the day de- 
scribed as belonging to the French 
army. Charles Brennan, an Irish 
lieutenant who had served all through 
the Peninsular war, called out, ' Och 
then, them's French, safe enough ! ' 
' Hold your tongue, Pat,' thundered 
out our Colonel ; ' what do you 
mean by frightening my boys ? ' but 
the expression of his countenance 
showed that he shared Pat's appre- 
hension. They were neither of them 
singular in their belief. The atten- 
tion of our neighbour, the 9th bri- 
gade of artillery, was directed to the 
' same phenomenon. ' For a moment,' 
says General Mercer, ' an awful si- 
lence pervaded that part of the posi- 
tion, to which we anxiously turned 



our eyes. " I fear it is all over," said 
Col. Gould, who still remained by 
us. Meantime the 14th, springing 
from the earth, had formed their 
square, whilst we [it is still Mercer 
who speaks], throwing back the 
guns of our right and left divisions, 
stood waiting in momentary expec- 
tation of being enveloped and at- 
tacked. The commanding officer of 
the 14th, to end our doubts, rode 
forward and endeavoured to ascer- 
tain who they were, but soon returned 
assuring us they were French. The 
order was already given to fire, when 
Col. Gould recognised them as Bel- 
gians.' The new comers were Gen. 
Chasse's Dutch-Belgian division, 
who had been posted in the early 
part of the day at Braine-la-Leude 
and were now ordered to the front. 
They had so recently formed a part 
of Napoleon's army that the slight 
change in their old uniform escaped 
the notice of the casual observer." = 
The mistake thus narrowly averted 
on the Allied right was actually 
made on their extreme left, where 
Zieten's Prussians took Prince Bern- 
hard of Saxe- Weimar's troops for 
French and attacked them. (See 
page 346, text). It had also oc- 
curred two days before at Quatre 
Bras, when the English fired upon 
Von Merlen's Belgian cavalry. (See 
note 38, page 69). 



IV. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 335 

never in danger. Once only did tlie position appear Battle of 
uncertain — at tlie time wlien tlie Frencli renewed tlie l!i^°- 
attack along the whole line, and their cavalry and 
infantry pushed forward in such numbers as to threaten 
to isolate Hougomont from the Allied line. But the 
coming up of Du Plat's, Adam's, and Halkett's brigades 
put an end to this danger, and tlie garrison was so rein- 
forced from Du Plat's troops as to render it ample for 
the defence. On the right of Hougomont Mitchell's 
infantry brigade, and that squadron of hussars which 
Grant had left to watch Fire's light-horse, sufficiently 
protected the right of the Allied line against the unim- 
portant demonstrations which now and then were made 
in this quarter. = The outposts on the extreme Allied 
left — Papelotte and La Haye — were held by Prince 
Bernhard's Nassau troops against those of Durutte until 
the coming up of Zieten's corps in their rear brought on 
a more serious conflict on this flank, when these farms 
became part of the scene of the Prussian attack, as 
Smohain and Frischermont had already done. 

The attack upon the French right which Bliicher 
was preparing at the time Ney made his assault upon 
La Haye Sainte continued throughout this The Prussian 
period of the battle. The Prussians advanced "^^"''*- 
in two bodies : that on the right consisting of Losthin's 
(15th) and Hacke's (13th) brigades, which confronted 
Lobau in the open field ; that on the left of Eyssel's 
(14th) and Hiller's (i6th) brigades ; while the interval 
between the two, which should have consisted of in- 
fantry if the Prussian strength had been adequate, was 
occupied by the reserve cavalry of Prince WilHam of 
Prussia. ''^^^ On the Prussian right little progress was 
made against Lobau, who, seconded by Durutte's divi- 
sion, made a firm stand ; and Prince William's cavalry 

^^' See diagram, page 323. 



June i8. 
IV. 



336 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AKD WATERLOO. 

suffered severely from the French musketry — two bri- 
gadiers, Schwerin and Watzdorff, being killed. On 
The Prussian tHclr left tlic Prusslaus had more immediate 
attack. success. Hillcr formed his i6th brio-ade into 

three columns of attack, each column consisting of two 
battalions, and advanced upon Planchenoit, Eyssel's 
brigade following in support. Duhesme, with eight bat- 
talions of the Young Guard, occupied both sides of the 
ravine through which lay the approach to the village. 
" While he made a shower of bullets and chain-shot rain 
on the Prussians, his youthful infantry ^'^^ — some from 
among the trees and bushes, others from the houses in 
the village — defended themselves with a murderous 
discharge of musketry, and showed no inclination to 
abandon their position." The Prussians, however, after 
capturing one howitzer and two guns, entered the village 
and got possession of the churchyard, which was not 
only strong, being enclosed within a low stone wall set 
upon a steep outer bank, but from its elevation com- 
manded the greater part of the village. But the 
French quickly estabhshed themselves in the sur- 
rounding houses and gardens, and concentrated their 
fire upon the Prussians ; and great loss occurred on 
both sides within a very short time. French supports 
presently came up, and one of their columns threatened 
the Prussians in- rear, so that they abandoned their 
advantage and withdrew from the village, pursued by 
Lobau's cavalry until they came under cover of their 
own batteries. The expelled Prussians rapidly ralhed, 
re-formed, and, by Bliicher's orders, renewed the attack, 
reinforced by 8 fresh battalions. " These 14 battahons 
descended into the ravine, which was lined on each side 

222 Thiers, from whom this and uses the word "youthful" to de- 
the following quotation concerning scribe the " Young Guard/' every 
the Planchenoit struggle are taken, man of which was a veteran. 



IV. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PRtJSSTAN ATTACK. :^2>7 

by the French., and advanced mto the midst of an actual Battle of 
fiery gulf. Hundreds fell, but the survivors closed their 'l!i^°- 
ranks, marched over the dead bodies of their y^^^ pmssian "^^ 
comrades, and, urging each other forward, sue- "*^"''^'- 
ceeded at length in entering Planchenoit, and reaching 
the termination of the ravine. Another step, and they 
woidd be on the Charleroi road. The Young Guard fell 
back, quite discomfited by the violence to which they 
had been exposed. But Napoleon suddenly appears 
among them. It is the privilege of the Old Guard to 
repair every disaster. This invincible troop will not 
suffer us to lose our line of retreat, the last resource of 
our army. Napoleon summoned Gen. Morand, and, 
giving him a battalion of the 2d grenadiers and another 
of the 2d chasseurs, ordered him to repel this alarming 
attack on our rear. He rode along in front of their 
battalions. ' My friends,' he said, ' the decisive moment 
is come : it will not sufiice to fire ; you must come hand 
to hand with the enemy, and drive them back at the 
point of the bayonet into that ravine, whence they have 
issued to threaten the army, the Empire, and France.' 
^Vive rUmjpereur,' was the sole reply of this heroic 
troop. The two appointed battalions, leaving their post, 
formed into column, and advanced, one on the right, 
the other on the left of the ravine, whence the Prussians 
were already issuing in great numbers. They advanced 
on their assailants with such firmness of step and such 
strength of arm that all yielded to theu' approach. 
Enraged against an enemy that had sought to turn the 
position, they overthrow or slaughter all that oppose 
them, and soon put those battalions to flight that had 
beaten the Young Guard. Sometimes with the bayonet, 
sometimes with the butt-end of the musket, they stab 
or strike ; and such was the fury that animated them 
that a drummer of one of the battahons pursued the 

z 



338 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of fugitives witli his drumsticks. Carried away by the 
W aterloo . |-Qj.j,gj-^I- ^f confusiou they had themselves produced, the 
jun^ y^^ p^^^^^-^^^ two battahons of the Old Guard rushed into 
attack. ^Yie ravine and pursued the Prussians up the 

opposite heights as far as the village of Maransart, oppo- 
site to Planchenoit. Here they were received with a 
volley of grape, and compelled to retreat ; but they re- 
mained masters of Planchenoit and the Charleroi road, and 
to avenge the defeat of the Young Guard two battalions 
of the Old Guard had sufficed. The victims of this fear- 
ful charge may be estimated at 2000." Thiers' story 
should be qualified by the statement that in this reso- 
lute charge by the French the two battalions of the Old 
Guard were by no means alone, but moved at the head 
of the 8 battalions of the Young Guard. The struggle 
terminated in an affair of cavalry, in which both sides 
suffered loss, but neither gained material advantage. 
Billow had been defeated in his second attempt to take 
Planchenoit, and it was determined not to make a third 
trial until the arrival of Pirch's corps, now near at 
7 P.M. hand. Meantime his troops re-formed in their original 
position, which they maintained without difficulty. 
Napoleon, seeing from their dispositions that another 
attack would be made, sent further reinforcements in 
this direction — one battalion of chasseurs of the Old 
Guard, under Gen. Pelet, who was charged by all 
means to hold Planchenoit, and another battalion of 
chasseurs which was to occupy the wood of Chantelet 
and prevent the village being turned on its right. Thus 
1 1 battalions of the Guard had by this time passed into 
the defence against the Prussians, and Napoleon's sole 
reserve, with which he must meet all further require- 
ments of the battle, consisted of 12 battalions. ''^^^rs 

223 Tlie Guard originally consist- of the ISIiddle, and 8 of the Young 
ed of 24 battalions — 8 of the Old, 8 Guard, 12,000 men in all ; but after 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 



339 



June i8. 
IV. 



Zieten's ist Prussian corps was about entering the field Battle of 
at this time — that is, at the time when Welhngton had t^°- 
retrieved the breaking of the Alhed centre, j^^^ Prussian 
and Bllicher was re-forming his troops after """'^^• 
their second repulse at Planchenoit ; and his leading- 
brigade, Steinmetz's i st, together with a part of his re- 
serve cavahy, were on their march from Ohain to join 
Billow's rio'ht at the eastern hamlets. The Duke of 
Wellington, while hard-pressed on his right wing, had 
sent his aide-de-camp. Col. Freemantle, in quest of what- 
ever Prussian force might be nearest, to desire that it 
would strengthen the weak points in his line and enable 
him to maintain his ground. Zieten, however, dechned 
to make any detachment from his corps ; yet the fact 
of its approach enabled Vivian, who was afterwards 
followed by Yandeleur, to take his light cavalry to the 
rehef of the endangered position. ^^* 



tlieir loss at the battle of Ligny, two 
battalions of the Old Guard had been 
consolidated into one. 

^-"^ Up to this time the expected 
assistance from the Prussians had 
only taken the form of diminishing 
the force which Napoleon could em- 
ploy against the Anglo- Allied army 
^a highly and perhaps decisively 
important aid, but one of which 
those in the Allied ranks were mi- 
conscious. The pictures which have 
been drawn of Wellington's anxious 
outlook for Bllicher agree in being 
very highly coloured. Scott pro- 
bably started this line of historical 
decoration by this passage in PauVs 
Ijetters : — " A friend of ours had the 
courage to ask the Duke of Welling- 
ton whether in that conjuncture he 
looked often to the woods from 
which the Prussians were expected 
to issue? — ' No/ was the answer ; ' I 
looked oftener at my watch than at 



anything else. I knew if my troops 
could keep my position till night, 
I must be joined by Bllicher before 
morning, and we would not have left 
Bonaparte an army next day. But,' 
continued he, ' I own I was glad as 
one hour of daylight slipped away 
after another, and our position was 
still maintained.'" Alison para- 
phrases Scott, and Thiers seems to 
follow Ahson when he says, "The 
Duke of Wellington, who was as 
firm as Ney was brave, . . . looked 
at his watch and prayed that Bllicher 
or night might come to his rescue." 
The Rev. Mr. Abbott puts it much 
more dramatically : — " Welhngton 
stood upon a gentle eminence, 
watching with intense anxiety for 
the coming of Blhcher. He knew 
that he could hold out but a short 
time longer. As he saw his lines 
melting away, he repeatedly looked 
at his watch, and then fixed his gaze 



Z 2 



340 



QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 

June i8. 

lY. 



Napoleon's fourth grand attack had not been futile 
like its predecessors. The taking of La Haye Sainte 
had rendered it possible, by a sufficient exertion of force, 
to break the Allied line ; and this must have been ac- 
comphshed by a well-timed onset of the French reserves. 
But Napoleon, engrossed with the Prussians, had ig- 
nored Ney's appeal and let the propitious moment pass ; 
while Wellington, realising when it was well nigh too 
late the possible consequences of the neglect to properly 
defend La Haye Sainte, atoned for his oversight by the 
prompt energy and judgment with which he repaired 
the breach in his line and personally directed the dis- 



upon the distant lulls, and, as lie 
wiped the perspiration which mental 
anguish extorted from his brow, ex- 
claimed, 'Would to Heaven that 
Bliicher or night would come ! ' " = 
The circumstances under which the 
Duke, or other people, first saw the 
Prussians actually come are given 
by the historians with a diversity as 
curious as the monotony about his 
watch. In PauVs Letters, the Duke 
stands with Maitland's Guards, and 
looking toward the French right, sees 
the disorder consequent upon Zieten's 
corps' coming up. "It was re- 
marked," says Scott, "that the 
sharpness and precision of the Duke's 
sight enabled him to mention these 
circumstances two or three minutes 
before they could be discovered by 
the able officers around him." The 
Rev. Mr. Gleig, knowing the position 
of Planch enoit and that Billow's 
troops arrived there, makes the 
Duke look there for them : — " The 
Duke gazed, and soon saw the upris- 
ing of smoke over the trees. . . . 
He saw that Bliicher was true to his 
word. His troops beheld nothing 
except the formidable outline of the 



masses which were collected to as- 
sault them." The Rev. Mr. Abbott, 
however, knows a great deal better 
than this. " Two long, dark columns," 
he says, " of 30,000 each, the united 
force of Bliicher and Biilow, came 
pouring over the hills." Then they 
" came rushing upon the plain." 
Then "the _Allied army saw at a 
glance its advantage, and a shout of 
exultation burst simultaneously from 
their lips." Siborne had shown 
quite conclusively, long before the 
time of Mr. Abbott, why the doings 
of " the united force of Bliicher and 
Biilow" were not observed by the 
Allied army:—" It was only from the 
high ground on which the extreme 
left of the Anglo- Allied line rested 
that a general view could be obtained 
of the Prussian movements. As 
regards, however, the viUage of 
Planchenoit itself, the spire of the 
church was all that could be seen." 
While the Duke of Wellington, there- 
fore, and some of his officers were aware 
that the Prussians were in action, 
they could not judge of their pro- 
gress, and the army in general was as 
yet ignorant of their presence. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 34 1 

position of his troops until lie had brought safety where Battle of 
all had seemed on the verge of disaster.^^^ Napoleon, " 

° ^ June 18. 



^^^ Nothing can be more con- 
tradictory tlian the opinions as to 
the state of the battle at this period. 
On the one hand, the moderate and 
guarded Jomini says, in his Sum- 
mary, that " the victory was already 
more than won," — by Napoleon, that 
is, at the time of the coming of 
Zieten's corps, which was "more 
than sufficient to snatch victory from 
him." And again : '' It is almost cer- 
tain that Napoleon would have re- 
mained master of the field of battle, 
but for the arrival of 65,000 Prus- 
sians [there were but 51,944] on his 
rear, — a decisive and disastrous cir- 



cumstance, the prevention of which 
was not entirely in his power." On 
the other hand, by all Englishmen at 
that time, and by many to this day, it 
has been denied that the victory was 
ever for a moment in doubt ; that the 
final result was determined by the 
intervention of the Prussians ; or that 
Wellington made any error in the 
conduct of the battle. Such exag- 
geration of patriotism and hero- 
worship of course overshot its mark 
and provoked equally extravagant 
depreciation, as in one of Byron's 
references in Don Juan to the Duke 
and his victory : — 



" Precedence upon such occasions 

Will oftentimes make deadly quarrels burst 

Out between friends as well as allied nations : 
The Briton must be bold who really durst 

Put to such trial John Bull's partial patience 
As say that Wellington at Waterloo 
Was beaten, — though the Prussians say so too ; 

" And that if BlUcher, Biilow, Gneisenau, 

And God knows who besides in ' au ' and ' ou,' 

Had not come up in time to cast an awe 

Into the hearts of those who fought till now 

As tigers combat with an empty craw, 

The Duke of Wellington had ceased to show 

His orders, also to receive his pensions. 

Which are the heaviest that our history mentions." 



The French, naturally enough, be- 
lieved not only that the battle was 
theirs but for the Prussians' inter- 
vention, but even that Wellington 
himself was thoroughly convinced of 
his defeat, and was astonished to 



find himself conqueror. Brialmont, 
referring to this current idea in order 
to refute it, describes a caricature 
of Wellington which circulated in 
France, and bore these lines : — 



" D'ou vient cet air d'^tonnement 

Sur ce visage ou dut briUer la gloire ? 
C'est que le peintre a, maladroitement, 
Peint le heros le jour de sa victoire,'' 



IV. 



342 



QUATKE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of on the other hand, was not only remiss in neglecting 
the advantage which his lieutenant's valour had won 



June 1 8. 



IV, 



Wliat is it fills that face with puzzled ■wonder 
Which really ought to beam with glory's ray ? 

The painter's drawn his hero, by a blunder, 
As he appeared on his triumphal day. 



Wellington himself — who never mi- 
dervalued his own achievements — 
did not countenance the exaggerated 
claims as to this battle, nor ignore 
facts which were evident enough to 
those who witnessed it. He was 
wont to say that there were several 
times when he " thought it was all 
over with us," and that " the last 
hoiu? of the battle was indeed a try- 
ing one." Sir Augustus Frazer — 
who attended the Duke during most 
of the day, and whose judgment that 
Napoleon would have won the day 
had the cavalry charges been sup- 
ported by infantry, has been already 
quoted (see note 189, page 292, ad 
Jinem) — wrote of that and the suc- 
ceeding period of tlie battle : " Several 
times were critical; but confidence 
in the Duie, I have no doubt, ani- 
mated every breast. His Grace ex- 
posed his person, not umaecessarily, 
but nobly; without his personal 
exertions, his continual presence 
wherever and whenever more than 
usual exertions were required, the 
day had been lost. ' Twice have I 
saved this day by perseverance,' said 
his Grace before the last great strug- 
gle, and said so most justly." Wel- 
lington himself admitted his fault in 
undervaluing La Haye Sainte; " but," 
in Kennedy's words, " the error was 
most ably and nobly amended." The 
other fault attributed to him in con- 
nection with this part of the battle 
— that of leaving 18,000 troops at 
Hal when his own line was so weak 



— has already been discussed on page 
207.= Much has been said of the 
Duke's exposure of his person 
throughout the whole battle, and 
especially at the time of the cavalry 
charges and when rallying his broken 
centre under a close and hot mus- 
ketry fire — constantly animating his 
men by word and example, and 
always present at the point of danger. 
One instance of his coolness under 
fire occurred when he stood under 
the tree afterwards called after him, 
through whose boughs the bullets 
were rattling. " That's good prac- 
tice," he said to one of his staff" ; " I 
think they fire better than they did 
in Spain." -The two following are 
given by Siborne : — " At one period 
of the battle, when the Duke was 
surrounded by several of his staff, it 
was very evident that the group had 
become the object of the fiie of a 
French battery. The shot fell fast 
about them, generally striking and 
turning up the ground on which they 
stood. Their horses became restive, 
and ' Copenhagen ' himself so fidgety 
that the Duke, getting impatient, 
and having reason for remaining on 
this spot, said to those about him, 
' Gentlemen, we are rather too close 
together — better to divide a little.' 
Subsequently, at another point of the 
line, an officer of artillery came up 
to the Duke, and stated that he had 
a distinct view of Napoleon, attended 
by his staiF; that he had the gims 
of his battery well pointed in that 



IV. 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 343 
him, but he so inadequately informed himself as to the Battle of 

Waterloo 

state of the action in that part of the field that, when 

. . - June 18 

he finally advanced his reserves, it was not against the 
point weakened by Ney's attack, but against that which 
Wellington had made the strongest in his entire line. 
Napoleon's part in this attack, in short, justifies the 
criticism of Brialmont : " He made the first attack 
against La Haye Sainte with over-deep masses ; he en- 
gaged, or allowed to be engaged, his cavalry too soon ; 
finally, he showed some hesitation when, at 6 o'clock, 
he had the proof that a general effort in the centre 
might succeed. In general, all the attacks made during 
this day had the defect of being badly supported. " = On 
the side of the Prussians Napoleon had, at any rate for 
the moment, stayed their advance, and hoped not un- 
reasonably that the reinforcements from the elite of the 
Grand Army which he had sent to Lobau, one of the 
ablest of his generals, might hold them in check while 
he made his single remaining effort against the enemy 
in his front. ^^^ 

direction, and was prepared to fire. Waterloo by any one wlio does not 

EQs Grace instantly and emphatically come to the conclusion that its result 

exclaimed, ' No ! no ! I'll not allow would have been eminently im- 

it. It is not the business of com- perilled had the Duke of Wellington 

manders to be firing upon each faUen in the action at any period of 

other.' " The last incident is in it previous to the last general attack." 

sti'ong contrast with the story — —^ Napoleon has been censured 

which, however, is denied — that at for not retreating, even at this junc- 

the battle of Dresden Napoleon him- ture, instead of continuing the action 

self directed the firing into the AUied against the combined Allied armies, 

stafi" of that gun which brought down Bulow's position, on his right and 

Gen. Moreau. It is remarkable that rear and close upon the Oharleroi 

at Waterloo, while the casualties on road, was such as to make retreat 

Napoleon's staff were inconsiderable, impossible from a military point of 

not one of Wellington's escaped un- view. Speaking of a time before this 

wounded. As to his preservation, difficulty arose — of the time when 

Kennedy says : " I do not consider the Prussians first appeared, — Thiers 

that any adequate idea can have shows the political impossibility : — 

been formed as to the battle of '* It was certainly in his power to re- 



344 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



\_Note. — The doings of Wellington's and of Bliicher's forces 
have hitherto been so entirely distinct that it has been possible 



jy_ treat and decline fighting, but it 
would Ibe a very serious thing to 
retreat from a battle already com- 
mencedj and that in presence of both 
English and Prussians. Such con- 
duct would be a renunciation of the 
ascendancy gained by the victory of 
Ligny; it would be consenting to 
recross as a fugitive the frontier 
which two days before he had passed 
as a conqueror ; and all this with the 
conviction of having to meet, with- 
in a fortnight, 250,000 additional 
enemies, when the Austrians, Rus- 
sians, and Bavarians would have ar- 
rived. It was certainly better to 
fight out a battle which, if gained, 
would definitively maintain things 
in the position in which we wished 
to place them, than, by retreating, 
allow the two invading columns from 
the north and east to unite and 
overpower us with their combined 
forces. In the actual state of things 
there was no choice but to conquer 
or die. Napoleon was convinced of 
this, and, as the events of the day 
assumed a more serious aspect, they 
taught him nothing that he had not 
previously Imown." Oharras deals 
with the same problem which Thiers 
has considered, but reaches a different 
solution. " It is very probable," he 
says, " that his [Napoleon's] personal 
situation was not foreign to his de- 
termination to pursue success when 
success had become impossible. If 
he returned to France weakened, 
discredited by a check, he risked 
being precipitated from his throne. 
To maintain himself upon it he 
needed a victory, and under the sway 
of this egotistical preoccupation he 
nerved himself to play against for- 



tune, staking his last soldier, as an 
unfortunate gamester, ruined, throws 
his last piece of gold on the green 
cloth of the gambling table." = Besides 
retreating, Napoleon had another 
alternative, which Brialmont men- 
tions thus : — " He [Napoleon] enter- 
tained the idea for a moment of 
changiug his front to the rear, by 
rendering Hougomont his pivot on 
the left, and Planchenoit his jjoewif 
d'apjmi upon the right ; but he im- 
mediately abandoned that project, 
because, it is said, he still clung to 
the hope of being joined by Grouchy, 
and because, on the other hand, the 
last report led him to believe that 
the Allies were not in a condition 
to offer a much more prolonged 
resistance." Brialmont, after ex- 
pressing his doubt of any story that 
represents Napoleon as influenced by 
a continued expectation of Grouchy 's 
coming, adds this note : — " This is 
Vaudoncourt's accoimt ; that of 
Gourgaud is a little different. ' Na- 
poleon,' says he, ' hesitated for a 
moment whether he would not 
change his line of operations and 
establish it on the Nivelles road, 
thus turning the right of the Eng- 
lish army instead of the left, and 
marching upon Mont St. Jean by 
the Nivelles road, after having car- 
ried Braine-la-Leude." Gen. Gour- 
gaud adds that the plan was aban- 
doned because it would have com- 
promised Grouchy, and favoured the 
junction of the Allies. By any 
plan which allowed this junction 
Brialmont points out, "the object of 
the campaign would be defeated, 
and the Emperor be obliged to re- 
enter France, and to assume the 



June 18. 



7 P.M. 



BATTLE OF WATEKLOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 345 

to separate the accounts of the two. In the fifth phase of the Battle of 
battle, however, the operations of the two Allied armies, at ^ ^^ °*^" 
first independent, presently combine. To avoid a digression 
in the middle of Napoleon's last charge, it is necessary to ^' 
describe the doings of the Prussians down to their entering 
upon the field of the Anglo-Allied action, before taking up 
Napoleon's attack upon Wellington. The two trains of events 
were, of com'se, simultaneous.] 

Zieten's and Pirch's corps were rapidly approaching 
the field, and portions of each came upon it, at the 
time Napoleon was preparing his last reserve y^^g Prussian 
to attack the Anglo-Allied line. Zieten had ""'*''^"- ^• 
been expected to occupy the part of the position held 
by Yandeleur's and Vivian's cavalry brigades, and these 
troops, urgently needed at the centre, had moved thither 
as soon as they knew of the Prussian approach on the 
road from Ohain. But Zieten had sent forward a stafif- 
officer to reconnoitre, who judged from the signs in the 
rear of the Allied centre that- Wellington's right wing 
was already retreating ; ^^'^ and on the strength of his 

defensive against half a million of had become impossible; even the 

the Allies." = Jomini, in his Sum- assembling of the entire Guard could 

maty of the Campaign, says of Na- not be effected ; disorder began to 

poleon's schemes at this juncture : infect the cavalry and Diu-utte's di- 

" It is said, however, that he flat- vision, menaced by three times their 

tered himself with leading fortune number on the plateau between Smo- 

under his banner, by refusing his hain and the causeway ; it was ne- 

right threatened by very strong cessary to fly to D'Erlon's support." 

forces, in order to bring all his efforts Yielding to this last necessity, ac- 

to bear through his left on Hougo- cordingly, Napoleon arranged the 

mont and Mont St. Jean — a rash last charge of the Guard. In his 

change of front that necessarily Life of Napoleon Jomini makes the 

abandoned the line of retreat to Emperor say, " This was a bold, and 

Oharleroi to follow a new one on by some considered a rash measure, 

the Nivelles causeway, and which, .... but its character cannot 

moreover, destroyed all commnnica- be properly judged of, as circum- 

tion with Grouchy. Had the sue- stances at the time prevented its 

cess of this measure been in the execution." 

least problematical, its execution ^^^ See note 216, page 328. 



346 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of report Zieten called back his leading troops and changed 
a^erro. ^^^^ dircction of his advance, intending to join the corps 
^ — — y;,gp^j^jgi„^ of Billow, already inaction. His error was soon 
attack, r. corrected by Baron Muffling, who had left Wel- 
lington's headquarters-staff to dispose of these troops on 
their arrival, had for some time awaited them, and now 
galloped on to stop their false movement ; and Zieten's 
cavalry accordingly took up the position just vacated 
by Vandeleur and Vivian, on the left of Best's Hano- 
verian brigade, while his infantry went forward to take 
part in the struggle for the hamlets in the valley. Here 
the delay occasioned by Zieten's mistake had given a 
momentary advantage to the enemy ; for Durutte, who 
held the apex of the angle at which Napoleon's line 
turned, had made a vigorous push to estabhsh himself 
in a position which would sever communication between 
Bllicher and Wellington ; his skirmishers had ejected 
the Nassau brigade of Prince Bernhard from the hamlet 
of Papelotte, but had been checked when trying to take 
the Papelotte and La Haye farms ; and further on his 
right he was engaged with the Prussians under BlUow 
who had got a foothold in Smohain.^^^ But Zieten 
retrieved the loss. His ist brigade, that of Steinmetz, 
came up on the right of Smohain and advanced 
rapidly upon La Haye and Papelotte, where, partly 
through haste, and partly from the uniforms of the 
Nassauers, they mistook Prince Bernhard's troops for 
French and fired upon them, and it was not until seve- 
ral discharges had been interchanged, causing losses 

7.30 P.M. on both sides, that the mistake was discovered. The 
combined force of the Prussians and Nassauers now 

~^^ Exactly what passed here adds : " This is denied by Van 

is disputed. Brialmont says in his Loben Sels, because the fact is not 

text : " Durutte's division had car- related in any Dutch document, 

ried in succession Papelotte, La But French authors are unanimous 

Haye, and Smohain." In a note he in asserting it." 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PEUSSI AN ATTACK. 347 

enabled them to dislodge the French from the eastern Battle of 
hamlets, and gradually force them back mto the 1^- 
valley.^^^=On Zieten's left, meanwhile, Pirch ^, p une^ 

had brought up to Billow's assistance his re- "''^"''*- ^''• 
serve cavalry and two of his infantry brigades, Tip- 
pelskirchen's 5th and Kraift's 6th ; the third, Brause's 
7th brigade, having been ordered to cross to the south 
of the Lasne and occupy Maransart, so covering Billow's 
left flank ; while the remaining brigade, Langen's 8th, 
had been detained at Wavre by Grrouchy's advance.'^^^ 
Pirch himself led Tippelskirchen's brigade to reinforce 
Hiller and Eyssel for the third storming of Planchenoit, 
having Krafft's brigade as a reserve. The cavalry of 
the 2d corps was deployed in three hues on the right 
of that of the 4th corps, thus occupying the interval 
between the wings of Blllcher's force, and confronting 
Domont's French cavalry, then in reserve. The dispo- 
sition of the Prussians, as they made ready to attack 
Planchenoit with their left wing and Lobau's force with 
their right, were as shown in the diagram. ^^^ The 

2*^ Brialmont — following a letter heartening and ominous cry, ' The 

from Prince Bernhard of Saxe- Prussians ! The Prussians !'.... 

Weimar to his father, which is Napoleon [in Gourgaud] charges Du- 

quoted by Van Loben Sels — thus re- rutte's division with having made 

coimts this attack : — " Bliicher foimd a bad defence of La Haye. He 

himself in the presence of the Nassau asserts also that in the ranks of this 

troops, under the command of the division the cry was raised, ' Sauve 

Prince of Saxe- Weimar, who still qui 2jeut ! ' But Marshal Ney, who 

wore the uniform of the Imperial was at hand, and quitted the field of 

army. Bliicher, mistaking them for battle among the last, affirms that he 

the enemy, drove them from their heard no such cry." 

position. The French officers ob- ^^o ggg T^&ge 162. 

served the retrograde movement, and ^si j^j^g diagram is on the next 

shouted, ' The left gives way ! page. = The accessions at 7 o'clock 

Grouchy is coming ! ' The word had brought up Bliicher's strength 

flew from mouth to mouth, but was to 51,944 men and 104 guns, as fol- 

immediately succeeded by the dis- lows : — 



s 


H 


i-q 


o 


:p 


P3 


pq 


Ph 



?S5 






"^ 


S 


U!) 












1 










'-Q 


M 











U^ 














n- 


^o 


a 


hH 




^ 








OJ 


Q 


-M 








« 


w 


ft 




aqouBiij 



02 











l-O 


m 


V-( 


l-H 




^ 




'tj 


fi 


c3 


^ 


ai 




o 


K 




h^ 



OQ 



TiTBqoras ; 





BATTLE OF WxlTERLOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 



349 



Prussians moved to the attack at just about the thne Battle of 
the Imperial Guard, on the other side of the field, l^^- 
came in conflict with Wellington's line. While 



The Prussian 
V. 



Zieten's cavalry attached themselves to the """^*- 
Anglo-Allied line, and followed its movements, his in- 
fantry, the brigade of Steinmetz, united with Prince 
Bernhard's, drove Durutte's division backward from the 
eastern hamlets, took his artillery, and pursued him in 
the direction of La Belle Alliance, reaching the Charleroi 
road from the east just as the defeated Imperial Guard 
were driven upon it from the west.^^'-^^rNext on Zieten's 



June 18. 
V. ' 

7.30 P.M. 



Previously in the field 
Part of Zieten's (ist) corps 
„ Pirch's(2d) „ . . 

Total . 


Infantry 


Cavah-y 


Artillery 


Guns 


25,381 

2,582 

13,520 


2,720 
1,670 
4,468 


1,143 
274 
386 


64 
16 

24 


41,283 


8,858 1,803 

j 


104 



The infantry of Bliicher's force was 
drawn up in columns of battalions, 
arranged checkerwise : for instance, 
Krafft's brigade was formed thus — 



In the long interval between the 
battalions in the front line was the 
artillery. Skirmishers preceded each 
column in the usual manner. 

^^^ One of the many disputes as 
to the order and relative importance 
of events arises at this point. The 
English claim that the Imperial 
Guard's defeat and flight produced 
the panic and flight of the French 
centre and right, and that the Prus- 
sians did little more than follow up 
the fugitives. The Prussians hold 
that Zieten's attack originated the 
movement of the French in retreat, 
quite independently of the British 



success. Siborne goes with his coun- 
trymen in representing that Durutte's 
division became alarmed by the dis- 
aster in its rear, and says that it 
" at once saw the certainty of its 
being cut off if it remained in its 
present attitude, and hence, aware of 
its own helplessness, it took to flight." 
= Thiers, on the other hand, takes 
the Prussian view so decidedly as to 
say that "the Prussian corps com- 
manded by Zieten, arriving unex- 
pectedly, turned into defeat what 
might have been a victory, though a 
sanguinary and dearly purchased one." 
Thiers fixes the first panic and cries 
of " Sauve qui peut ! " among Du- 
rutte's troops at the moment when 
Napoleon was yet preparing the ad- 
vance of the Imperial Guard. = 
Jomini — who is singularly incorrect 
as to the houi's at which events 
occurred during this battle, but won- 
derfully clear in his uisight into 



Waterloo 
June i8. 
V. 



350 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of left, Billow's liglit wiiig, coiiiposecl of Lostliin's and 
Hacke's brigades, had moved at the same thue upon 
The Prussian Lobau, pieludhig their attack by a storm of 
attack. V. artillery fire much heavier than the French 
could bring to bear in reply. Lobau fought with his 
invariable skill and valour, and held his ground until 
Durutte's troops — and indeed those of D'Erlon's whole 
corps — swept past his left flank and rear in an uncon- 

8.1S P.M. troUable panic. This quickly spread through his ranks, 
and Lobau's corps was added to the mass of fugitives 
into which the entire right wing of the Grand Army 
had by this time dissolved. 

In Planchenoit the struggle was very differently 
contested, outlasting that in any other part of the field. 
The strength of the Imperial Guard which occupied the 
village had been reinforced since the last attack by 
Gen. Pelet's battalion of chasseurs of the Old Guard ; 
and the central portion of the village was now strongly 
held, especially the walled churchyard, which was 
made a sort of fortress. The leading' columns from 
the assailing Prussian brigades — Tippelskirchen's, of 
the 2d corps, and Eyssel's and Killer's, of the 4th — 
moved through a heavy fire from the French batteries 

cause and effect — makes the defeat riority, at tlie same time tliat 

of both French wings simultaneous, Blticher's Prussian cavalry outflanks 

and that of each independent of what Durutte, and thus gets in rear of 

befell the other. ''Zieten," he says, the line." It appears to be pretty 

" easily overthrows Durutte, at the clear that Jomini's statement is cor- 

same time he [though this was Pirch] rect, and that the repulse of the 

outflanks the left of the crotchet French at either extremity of their 

formed by Lobau and the Young line — of the Guard by Wellington 

Guard. . . . All this portion of the and of Durutte by Zieten — was so 

Imperial army, " overrun and sur- nearly coincident that it is impossible 

rounded by quadruple numbers, to determine the priority. Probably 

crowd upon each other and seek the two events were wholly inde- 

safety in flight. . . . Wellington, pendent of one another, and the j^ost 

on his part, . . . burst on the Old hoc ergo propter hoc, is entirely in- 

Guard with an overwhelming supe- applicable. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 35 1 

into the approaclimg lanes, and made their way toward Battle of 
the eastern side of the church. " The Prussians, extend- ^-^' 
ing their front so as to envelop a considerable 7-;,^ p^.^. 



portion of the churchyard, and taking ad van- "*'"''* 

tage of the houses and enclosures which they had reached 

on their own side, maintained a terrific fire upon their 

opponents, and, as the latter appeared determined to keep 

them at bay till the last, a great loss of life occurred on 

both sides. The soldiers of the Imperial Guard fought 

desperately, and so greatly was their animosity excited 

that some officers of the 15th Prussian regiment and of 

the Silesian Landwehr, who had been made prisoners in 

the previous attack, were with difficulty saved by Gen. 

Pelet's personal exertions from becoming a sacrifice 

to their fury. Eeinforcements were moved into the 

churchyard from the reserves on the western side, 

and the pertinacity with which the attacks upon it 

were repelled showed very plainly that other means 

than that of a front assault must be resorted to for 

forcing the French from a post which afforded them 

such superior advantages in the defence of the village. 

If the Prussians attempted to outflank the churchyard 

by advancing along the low open space on its right, 

they became exposed to the commanding fire from its 

walls, to that from the opposite houses, and, in front, to 

the reserves. If they ventured to pass close by its 

left, they had but a narrow road open to them, bounded 

by the churchyard wall on one side, strongly lined by 

the defenders, and by the houses on the other which 

the enemy still occupied, and presenting also at its 

further extremity a farm-house and its offices in flames, 

situated so close to the churchyard as to conceal by its 

smoke any column of reserve that might be posted in 

that quarter. Hence it was determined to act upon a 

broader extent of front, and to turn the entire village 



ssian -.J 

V. ^- 



3^2 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of on both flaiiks, so as either to force or to intercept 
ajroo. ^1^^ retreat of the enemy from his stronghold in the 

"^"'^ The Prussian churchyarcL" 233 ^ strong force of Prussian 
attack. V. skirmishers was accordingly pushed forward 
on the south of Planchenoit on both sides of the 
Lasnes, and especially upon a ridge of ground between 
the Lasnes and the rivulet flowing through the village, 
where a party of the Guard made a resolute stand. 
" Along the crest of this ridge runs a narrow road, with 
several cottages on either side ; the ground is thoroughly 
intersected with hedges and studded with trees, and 
altogether admirably adapted for a protracted defence 
by light troops. Every house, every hedge, and every 
lane was gallantly contested. The Prussians, not only 
boldly attacking in front, but skilfully and gradually 
turning the ridge on both sides, at length gained posses- 
sion of all this portion of the village, and thus outflanked 
the troops in the churchyard, who maintained to the 
last the most desperate defence. In the meantime, the 
houses and enclosures on the left [north] of the church 
had also been turned on that side by the right of the 
Prussian attack, and principally by the 5 th Westphalian 
Landwehr,the skirmishers of which had beaten back their 
opponents close under the walls of the burning buildings 
— the bright flames of which, gleaming upon the com- 
batants who rent the air with their shouts, gave a 
peculiar wildness to this scene of mortal strife. But 
still more wild and awful must have been the scene 
within the church, as the red flood of light which they 
poured through the windows of the aisles fell upon the 
agonised and distorted features of the wounded and the 
dying with which the sacred edifice was at that moment 
filled. The Prussians continued pressing forward along 

833 fjijjjg quotatiou auci that following are from Siborue. 



June i3. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— PRUSSIAN ATTACK. 353 

both flanks of the village, driving the Imperial Guard Battio of 
from house to house, from hedge to hedge, and from 
tree to tree, until at length it became obvious rpj^^ Prussian 
to the French that their rear would soon be """''*• ^■ 
intercepted. The latter were also by this time fully- 
aware of the deroute of the main army, and, giving up 
all for lost, as they fell back upon the western portion 
of the village, they made a hasty and disorderly retreat 
toward Maison du Eoi. The chasseurs of the Old Guard 
were the last to quit the churchyard, and sufiered severely 
as they retired. Their numbers were awfully diminished, 
and Pelet, collecting together about 250 of them, found 
himself vigorously assailed by the Prussian cavalry 
from the moment he quitted the confines of Planchenoit 
and entered upon the plain between the latter and the 
highroad. At one time, his ranks having opened out 
too much in the hurry of their retreat, some of the 
Prussian troops in pursuit, both cavalry and infantry, 
endeavoured to capture the eagle, which, covered with 
black crape, was carried in the midst of this devoted 
little band of veterans. Pelet, taking advantage of a 
spot of ground which afforded them some degree of 
cover against the fire of grape by which they were con- 
stantly assailed, halted the standard-bearer and called 
out, " A 77101, chasseurs ! sauvons Vaigle ou mourons 
autour d'elle ! " The chasseurs immediately pressed 
around him, forming what is usually termed the rally- 
ing-square, and, lowering their bayonets, succeeded in 
repulsing the charge of cavalry. Some guns were then 
brought to bear upon them, and subsequently a brisk 
fire of musketry ; but, notwithstanding the awful sacrifice 
which was thus ofl^ered up in defence of their precious 
charge, they succeeded in reaching the main line of 
retreat, favoured by the universal confusion, as also 
by the general obscurity which now prevailed, and 

A A 



354 



QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



thus saved alike the eagle and the honour of the re- 
giment. ^^* 

Billow and Pirch had thus swept away the last con- 
The Prussian tending remnant of the Grand Army, and 
attack. V. they now joined their victorious countrymen 
and allies on their right in the general pursuit. 



7 P.M. 



V. Last Charge of the Imperial Guard. 

Napoleon was no sooner relieved for the moment 
from the pressure of the Prussians on his right by the 
repulse of Billow's second assault upon Planchenoit than 
he set himself to the preparation of his last reserves for 
another and decisive attack upon the British line, in the 



^^^ Siborne makes no tribute to 
Lobau's services on the French right. 
Thiers only mentions him as among 
the wounded. Chesney says of him : 
"Lobau, who altogether had 16,000 
men placed under him that day, 
held his own in the village man- 
fully. Not even amid the burning 
ruins by the Danube, where he first 
won Napoleon's praise and saved the 
Grand Army from an earlier Water- 
loo [at Aspern], had this brave 
general shown a more undaunted 
courage. Honoured be the man who 
by his devotion not only gave to his 
falling chief that last desperate 
chance, but time for escape when it 
too was lost, and the Empire over- 
thrown ! " Sir Augustus Frazer's 
only reference to Lobau is in this 
discreditable story : " Among the 
generals taken is, as report says, 
Lefebvre-Desnouettes ; if so, he 
ought to be hanged. A Count 
Lobau, governor of these provinces, 
and well Imown to the Duke, was 
also taken, and, with several generals, 
wished to see his Grace on the score 



of former acquaintance, but the Duke 
refused to see any of them, and 
drily added tliat he associated only 
with gentlemen." = Jomiui, in the 
Suimnary of the Campaign of 18 1 5, 
says of the last struggle in this part 
of the field:. ''The Young Guard 
and Lobau struggle with rare bravery 
against the constantly increasing for- 
ces of the Prussians. . . . Duhesme 
and Barrois are severely wounded ; 
Lobau, in endeavouring to rally his 
men, falls into the hands of the 
enemy ; Pelet shows front with 
a handful of heroes, about whom 
crowd a scattered few. The very 
report of Gen. Gneisenau on this 
celebrated battle will ever remain 
the most splendid testimony to the 
heroic defence of these 12,000 or 
15,000 French against 60,000 Prus- 
sians, favoured, moreover, by the 
nature of the battlefield, which, 
rising on their side into an amphi- 
theatre, gave to their numerous 
artillery a terrible ascendancy over 
that of their adversaries." 



V. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— LAST ATTACK. 355 

desperate hope of forcing Wellington from the field Battle of 

Wflitsrloo 

before Blllcher had time to develop his strength. He 

had at his disposal only 12 battalions of intact troops — 
the entire 8 battalions of the Middle Guard and 4 of 
the Old ; and 2 of these were quite as small a force as 
ought to be left in defence of the headquarters. 
Drouot brought up these veterans from the position 
they had hitherto occupied in rear of La Belle Alhance 
into the space between the south-eastern angle of 
Hougomont and the Charleroi road, and the 10 bat- 
talions destined for the attack were drawn up in two 
columns in rear of the central elevation. To these was 
given the task of breaking Wellington's line at the old 
point of attack on the right wing. At the same time 
the whole extent of the Allied line was to be assailed 
with redoubled violence by all the French infantry 
corps ; and the wasted remains of the cavalry, in such 
order as their shattered state permitted, were drawn up 
in rear and on both flanks of the columns of tlie Guard, 
ready to follow their advance if they succeeded, or to 
cover their retreat if they failed.^^^ = This mustering of 

^^^ The diagram at page 32 3 will cing on the French left of Durutte — 

explain the charge of the Guard if who was engaged with Prince Bern- 

the changed position of the British hard and Zieten, as already described 

light cavalry regiments be borne in in the text — Marcognet's division at- 

mind. These had left their ground tacked Best's brigade ; Alix attacked 

on the extreme left of the Allied Pack, Kempt, and Lambert ; Donze- 

line, which was now held by Zieten's lot attacked the 3d division and the 

Pi'ussian cavalry, and had moved to various troops intermixed with it ; 

the right — Vandeleur's brigade now the Imperial Guard attacked Mait- 

standing in rear of D'Aubrem^'s laud's brigade of British Guards and 

Dutch-Belgian infantry brigade, and Adam's 3d British brigade ; Bachelu 

Vivian's in rear of the 3d division, supported the Imperial Guard ; and 

that is, covering the space from Kiel- Foy and Jerome renewed their 

mansegge's to Ditmar's brigade. All efforts to take Hougomont, = The ar- 

the Anglo-Allied infantry retained raugement of the Guard for the 

then' former positions, and were con- attack is shown iii the diagram on 

fronted for the most part by the same the following page, 
antagonists as before, viz. : commen- 

A A 2 



356 



QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 

June i8. 

V. 



the enemy's troops was not lost upon Wellington, who, 
moreover, had been explicitly warned by a deserting 



Iist bat. 4tli Gren. - 

2d. „ ,, „ — 

1st „ 4tli Chas. — 

•7fl — 

Old fist „ istOlias. 

Guard 1 2d „ „ „ 

The column nearest tlie Cliarleroi 
road consisted of 4 battalions, 2 of 
grenadiers and 2 of chasseurs, — 
all of the Middle Guard, — formed 
in columns of divisions in mass. 
The column on the left consisted 
of 6 battalions, 4 of which were 
of grenadiers and chasseurs of 
the Middle Guard, formed as in the 
other column ; and the 2 rear bat- 
talions were chasseurs of the Old 
Guard, and marched both to the 
rear and to the left of the leading 
battalions of the column. The 10 
battalions contained 6,000 men, 
Thiers says, ''all well tried and 
more or less experienced soldiers, re- 
solved to conquer or die, and equal 
to forcing the lines of any infantry 
whatever." Chesney speaks of them 
as "altogether too weak for the 
work put upon them ; " but he con- 
tinues, " They advanced, these vete- 
rans, with the steadiness of troops 
long accustomed to wrest victory from 
doubtful battle." The effect upon 
the French army of their moving is 
thus told by the Erckuiann-Chatrian 
conscript :— " From all sides, over 
the thunder of cannon, over all the 
tumult, the cry was heard, 'The 
Guard is coming ! ' Yes, the Guard 
was coming at last ! We could see 
them in the distance on the highway. 



-1st bat. 3d Gren. \ 

■ 2d „ „ „ [Middle 
■1st „ 3d Chas. [Guard. 

■ 2d. „ „ „ j 



with their high bear-skin caps, ad- 
vancing in good order. Those who 
have never witnessed the arrival of 
the Guard on the battlefield can 
never know the confidence which is 
inspired by a body of tried soldiers, 
— the kind of respect paid to cour- 
age and force. The soldiers of the Old 
Guard were nearly all old peasants, 
born before the Republic, — men five 
feet and six inches in height, thin 
and well-built, who had held the 
plough for convent and chateau ; 
afterwards they were levied with all 
the rest of the people, and went to 
Germany, Holland, Italy, Egypt, 
Poland, Spain, and Russia, under 
Kleber, Hoche, and Marceau, and 
under Napoleon afterwards. He 
took special care of them and paid 
them liberally. They regarded them- 
selves as proprietors of an immense 
farm, which they must defend and 
enlarge more and more. This gained 
them consideration ; they were de- 
fending their own property. They 
no longer knew parents, relatives, or 
compatriots ; they only knew the 
Emp n-or ; he was their God. And 
lastly, they had adopted the King of 
Rome, who was to inherit all with 
them, and to support and honour 
them in their old age. Nothing like 
them was ever seen : they were so 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— LAST ATTACK. 



157 



Waterloo. 



June i8. 



V. 



French officer of cuirassiers, who rode up to Adam's Battle of 
brigade and surrendered himself, giving the informa- 
tion that Napoleon would himself attack the Alhed 
line with the Imperial Guard in a quarter of an hour. 
The Duke had been engaged in perfecting his measures 
for receiving them when he was summoned to the 
centre to repair the disaster to the 3d division. ^^^ 



accustomed to march, to dress their 
lines, to load, and fire, and cross 
bayonets, that it was done mechani- 
cally in a measure, whenever there 
was a necessity. When they ad- 
vanced, carrying arms, with their 
great caps, their white waistcoats 
and gaiters, they all looked just 
alike : you could plainly see that it 
was the right arm of the Emperor 
which was coming. When it was 
said in the ranks, * The Guard is 
going to move,' it was as if they had 
said, ' The battle is gained.' ... It 
was Ney who commanded them, as 
he had commanded the cuirassiers. 
The Emperor knew that nobody 
could lead them like Ney, only he 
should have ordered them up an hour 
sooner, when oui- cuirassiers were in 
the squares ; then we should have 
gained all. But the Emperor looked 
upon, his Guard as upon his own 
flesh and blood; ... to have ano- 
ther such Guard, he must commence 
at twenty-five and gain fifty victo- 
ries, and what remained of the best, 
most solid, and the toughest would 
be The G^arc/." = English eyes, na- 
turally, were differently impressed 
by the Guard. " When I was at 
Fontainebleau in 1814," wrote B. R. 
Haydon, the artist, "I strolled one 
evening to the parade. More dread- 
ful-looking fellows than Napoleon's 
Guard I had never seen. They had 
the look of thoroughbred, veteran, 



disciplined banditti. Depravity, 
recklessness, and bloodthii-stiness 
were burned into their faces. If 
such fellows had governed the 
world, what must have become of it ? 
Black mustachios, gigantic bear- 
skins, and a ferocious expression 
were their characteristics. They 
were tall and bony, but narrow- 
chested. On seeing our own men 
afterwards on the road from Bayonne 
to Boulogne, it was easy to predict 
which would have the best of it in a 
close struggle." = Of their leadership 
in their last charge, Charras says 
that, " under Ney's orders, marched 
the Lieutenant-Generals Friant, 
Roguet, Michel, and the Marshals of 
the Camp Poret de Morvan, Harlet, 
Mallet — a general to a battalion." 

'^'^^ Sir Augustus Frazer thus re- 
lates the warning of the grand at- 
tack : — " His [Napoleon's] last at- 
tack . . . we were aware of: an 
ofiicer of the Imperial cuirassiers, 
whether a deserter or not I could 
not determine, apprised me of it, 
pointing to the side on which he 
said the attack would be made in a 
quarter of an hour. It was neces- 
sary to find the Duke, from whom I 
had been for a little separated in as- 
suring some guns which were about 
to be abandoned from a momentary 
want of ammimition ; but, finding 
my friend Gen. Adam at the head 
of his brigade of infantry, I gave 



June i8 
V. 



358 QUATEE BRAS, IJGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

Battle of A cannonade, as usual, preceded the attack, but per- 

ceptibly less violent than heretofore, since on both sides 
the ammunition was becoming exhausted, and, especially 
on that of the Allies, many batteries had been disabled. 
But upon the track along which the Imperial Guard 
must advance the British artillery officers had concen- 
trated the fire of a great number of guns, which swept 

7.30 P.M. this particular space with fatal precision. The French 
were obliged to withhold their artillery fire as their own 
columns advanced, until they should have descended 
sufiiciently into the valley to be below its range ; and 
during this interval the thunder of the Prussian guns 
on the east made itself heard so tremendously as greatly 
to endanger the morale of the charging columns. To 
prevent any wavering at this supreme moment, JSFa- 
poleon — who was himself ordering the array of the 
Guard — sent aides-de-camp along the line to proclaim 
that the guns heard were Grouchy's, and that victory 
was now assured. ^'^^ Stimulated to fresh ardour by this 

tlie cuirassier to him, and rode on wlio dreaded treacliery. Napoleon 

to correct another mistake of the rode to meet the fugitives, spoke to 

moment; and, before I could rejoin them, led them back to their post, 

the Uuke, Adam had reported the and then returned to La Haj^e 

important information, so that the Sainte, when, looking towards the 

necessary dispositions were made." plateau, he perceived some move- 

237 a fpjjig ^iseful falsehood," as ment among the cavalry, that had 

Thiers terms it, deceived not only hitherto been quite immovable. A 

the men but their officers, even Ney dark presentiment filled his mind," 

himself. The alarm, according to and, to cut the story short, he set 

Thiers, came from the attack of going the Grouchy fabrication.- 

Zieten upon Durutte, which, if Thiers Then, "having sent Labedoyere to 

could ever be trusted as to matters disseminate this useful falsehood," 

of time, would settle the sequence he went back to the arrangement 

of these disputed events (see note of his Guard. Scott is so far in- 

232, page 349). His story is that clined to be charitable that, in his 

" Napoleon was engaged in arranging Life of Napoleon, he gives tlie story 

them [the Guard] in columns of at- this turn: — "Buonaparte told the 

tack, . . , when he saw some of Du- soldier's, and indeed imposed the 

rutte's troops abandon the Papelotte same fiction on their commander, 

farm, at the cry of ' Sauve qui peut,^ that the Prussians whom they saw 

uttered either by traitors or by those on the right were retreating before 



June 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— LAST ATTACK. 359 

auspicious iigavs, tlie entire front line, so far as it was Battle of 
not already in action, pressed forward to the final 
struggle. New accessions of numbers gave renewed 
vigour to the attacks upon Hougomont and before La 
Haye Sainte, and swarms of skirmishers crowded onward 
from end to end of the valley. The advance of the 
Guard was quickened by the spell of Napoleon's pre- 
sence, for he stationed himself upon the central eleva- 
tion beside the " hollow- way " of the Charleroi road, 
and by word or gesture addressed each battalion as it 
passed, stirring to the utmost the enthusiasm of this 
proud corps, and eliciting from them rapturous cries of 
" Vive V Empereur ! " ^^^ The right-hand column of the 

Groucliy. Perhaps he might him- in tatters and soaked with Hood, 

self believe that this was true."= every one who could put one foot 

The effect of Grouchy 's reported ar- before the other, joined the Guard 

rival on the French lines is told by when it passed before the breaches 

the Erckmann-Ohatrian conscript : — in the wall of the garden, and every 

" This terrible attack took place in one tore open his last cartridge." 
the gi'eatest confusion. Our whole ^^^ A good deal has been said 

army joined in it ; all the remnant in ihe Morituri salutamus strain 

of the left wing and centre ; all that about this last march of the Guard 

was left of the cavalry, exhausted before their idolized Emperor. Sen- 

by six hours of fighting ; every one timentalists of the heroic turn, who 

who coidd stand or lift an arm. . . . prefer dramatic attitudinizing to 

"When the news arrived that Grouchy common sense, have greatly deplored 

was coming even the wounded rose Napoleon's not heading the Guard 

up and took their places in the himself and perishing with it. It 

ranks. It seemed as if a breath had is in this spirit that Scott, in the 

raised the dead, and all those poor Field of Waterloo, closes his picture 

fellows in the rear of La Haye of the scene with a cheap and flip- 

Sainte, with their bandaged heads pant taunt : — 
and arms and legs, with their clothes 

" ' On ! on ! ' was still his stern exclaim, 
' Confront the battery's jaws of flame ! 

Rush on the levell'd gun ! 
My steel-clad cuirassiers, advance ! 
Each Hulan forward with his lance ! 
My Guard — my chosen — charge for France, 

France and Napoleon ! ' 
Loud answer'd their acclaiming shout. 
Greeting the mandate which sent out 
Their bravest and their best to dare 
The fate their leader shunn'd to share." 



360 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of Guard moved first to the attack, led by Ney. It ad- 
" vanced alons; the northern spur from the central eleva- 

June 18. . -, . . . . ■■ • f 1 

tion, mrectmg its course agamst that portion 01 the 

Allied heights behind which Maitland's brigade of 
Guards were lying for shelter from the French can- 
nonade ; and it soon began to suffer severely from the 
AlHed batteries, nearly all of which in the right wing 
were brought to bear upon it. Ney's horse (as usual) 
was shot, and the Marshal drew his sword and ad- 
vanced on foot ; Gen. Friant, commander of the grena- 
diers, fell severely wounded ; Gen. Michel, of the 
chasseurs, was killed, and his fall caused a momentary 
delay and loss of order ; but the column pressed on, 
though its numbers were rapidly diminishing, and pre- 
sently drew so near the Allied position that the French 
fire against this point stopped. Welhngton at this 
moment, returning from the lately endangered centre, 
rode up to Napier's battery at the right of Maitland's 
brigade, asked who commanded it, and said, " Tell him 
to keep a look-out to his left, for the I^rench will soon 
be with him." Almost as he spoke the tall bear-skin 
caps began to appear above the brow of the heights ; 
then the skirmishers mounted the slope and opened a 
sharp fire against the gunners ; then Napier's guns gave 
a blast of canister, grape, and shrapnel, that scattered 
the skirmishers and wrought havoc in the column itself, 

= To the Rev. Mr. Abbott it must remember that the safety of France 
have been a real grief that his ideal depended solely upon him. Yield- 
hero did not on this occasion launch ing to their solicitations, he resigned 
into heroics ; he tells how it hap- the command to Ney." Mr. Abbott, 
pened otherwise, in these terms: — however, finds consolation, such as 
" The Emperor placed himself at the it is, by telling how the Guard went 
head of this devoted and invincible on " to oppose their bare bosoms to 
band, and advanced in front of the point-blank discharges from batteries 
British lines, apparently intending double-shotted or loaded to the 
himself to lead the charge. But the muzzle with grape." 
officers of his staff entreated him to 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— LAST ATTACK. 36 1 

now only 40 to 50 yards distant. But the Guard came ^^fSioo 
on, and its leading ranks gained tlie summit. " To the j';^^^^ 
astonishment of the officers who were at their head, -^ 
there appeared in their immediate front no direct im- 
pediment to their further advance. They could only 
distinguish dimly through the smoke extending from 
Napier's battery the cocked hats of a few mounted 
officers, little imagining, probably, that the most pro- 
minent of these was the great Duke himself. Pressing 
boldly forward, they had arrived within 50 paces of the 
spot on which the British Guards were lying down, 
when Wellington gave the talismanic call — ' Up, 
Guards : make ready ! ' and ordered Maitland to 
attack. It was a moment of thrilling excitement. The 
British Guards, springing up so suddenly in a most 
compact four-deep line, appeared to the French as if 
starting out of the ground. The latter, with their high 
bonnets, as they crowned the summit of the ridge, ap- 
peared to the British through the smoky haze Hke a 
corps of giants bearing down upon them. The British 
Guards instantly opened their fire with a tremendous 
volley, thrown in with so much coolness, deliberation, 
and precision, that the head of the column became as it 
were convulsed by the shock, and nearly the entire 
mass staggered under the effect. In less than a single 
minute more than 300 of these brave old warriors fell, 
to rise no more. But the high spirit and innate valour 
which actuated the mass were not to be subdued by a 
first repulse. Its officers, placing themselves conspicu- 
ously in its front and on its flanks, called aloud, waved 
their swords, and by encouraging words and gestures 
commenced a deployment in order to acquire a more 
extended front. But, the head of the column being 
continually shattered and driven back upon the mass 
by the well-sustained and rapidly-destructive fire by 



J 



62 QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



June 18. 



Battle of which it was assailed within so extremely limited a 
space, this attempt altogether failed. The front of the 
column was becoming momentarily more disordered 
and broken up ; men were turning round and disap- 
pearing by the flanks ; whilst others in the rear were 
firing over the heads of those before them. The con- 
fusion into which the French Guard had been thrown 
now became manifest. The Duke ordered Maitland to 
charge, whilst, at the same instant, the gallant Lord 
Saltoun, equally alive to the real situation of the 
column, called out, ' Now's the time, my boys ! ' The 
brigade sprang forward, with a loud cheer, to the 
charge. Numbers of the French Guard nearest to the 
British threw down their arms and knapsacks and dis- 
persed. The flanks began rapidly to spread out ; and 
then the mass, partaking more generally of the panic, 
appeared as if rent asunder by some invisible poAver."'^'''^ 
The broken column fell back and retired into the 
valley, pursued for some distance down the slope by 
Maitland's brigade and a portion of Sir 0. Halkett's, on 
its left ; but soon Maitland discovered the second 
column of the Imperial Guard approaching on his right 
in such a direction as to threaten to turn his flank, and 
he gave the order to face about and retire. In the 
midst of the tumult the order was imperfectly heard 
and was generally understood to be " Form square," 
with which some battalions began to comply, while the 
officers of others endeavoured to arrest the mistake, and 
disorder ensued ; but the Guards, though in confusion, 
regained the height without mishap, re-formed promptly, 
and were in readiness for the new enemy approaching 
them.240 

^^^ The quotation is from Si- first column of the Imperial Guard, 

borne. Sir C. Halkett had led forward the 

2)0 During tliis attack by the two right-hand regiments of his bri- 



June i8. 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— LAST ATTACK. ^6^ 

The second column of the Imperial Guard did not Battle of 
move to the attack until some time after the advance 
of the first column — the interval between the two being 
from lo to 12 minutes. This left-hand column had 
been formed in the hollow ground near the south- 
eastern angle of the Hougomont fields, and it marched 
alongside their eastern boundary-hedge until, on coming 
within the area of the Allied cannonade, it swerved to 
its right, either to gain the shelter of an undulation of 
the ground against the destroying fire, or to direct its 
attack against the same point in the Allied line at 
which the preceding column was then engaged. At 
the same time a body of French cuirassiers was pushed 
forward to silence the batteries on Maitland's right, 
which were cutting down the Guard, and it succeeded so 
far as to disperse the gunners of one battery and drive 
in the skirmishers of a part of Adam's brigade ; but 
these horsemen were checked by the return of the 5 2d 
British regiment, in a formation to receive cavalry, to 
its old post before the main line, and they were over- 

gade — the 33d and 69tli — so as to brerng's brigade, of Chasse's Dutch- 
cover Maitland's flank against any Belgian division, had stood on Mait- 
attack from Douzelot, then fiercely land's right-rear during this charge, 
assailing Alten's division. This forming three squares, of two batta- 
brought the brigade into a very ex- lions each. There was no fighting 
posed position, and it suffered ac- withintheir sight, but the noise of the 
cordingly, Halkett himself being approach of the second column of the 
shot through the mouth by a musket Imperial Guard so disquieted them 
bullet, and obliged to leave the field, that, when Maitland's troops in pur- 
while all the commissioned officers suing moved out of their front, they 
of the 73d regiment fell except began to leave their ranlis, and were 
Major Kelly, then on Wellington's only kept in the field by Vandeleur's 
staff", who now left it to command closing up the squadron intervals of 
his regiment. Col. Elphinstone, his cavalry brigade in their rear and 
who succeeded Halkett in command holding them back. The Dutch- 
of the brigade, got it into order just Belgian officers exerted themselves 
in time to receive another attack to restore order and confidence, but 
from Donzelot's columns, delivered it was manifest that no fighting could 
as the second column of the Imperial be expected from the men. 
Guard attacked Maitland. = D'Au- 



;64 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



come by a squadron of the 23d British hght dragoons, 
which 23ursiied them far across the plain and into the 
rear of the Guard, until it fell into the fire of a French 
infantry column and was forced to turn back. The 
second column of the Guard, meanwhile, had continued 
its advance with great spirit and in excellent order, 
covering its left front from the view of the British line 
by throwing out a great number of skirmishers. To 
oppose these, each battalion of Adam's brigade pushed 
out a company to act as skirmishers, and the brigade 
itself — following the inspiration of Sir John Colborne, 
the colonel commanding the 5 2d regiment — moved 
into a formation which w^ould enable it to fall upon the 
Imperial Guard in flank when its front was in the act 
of attacking Maitland's Guards. ^^^ " The head of the 



^*^ To understand the conduct of 
Adam's brigade during the culmi- 
nating struggle of the battle, we 
must remember the positions its 



Wxtnre Road 



regiments had taken when brought 
into the first line (note 210, page 
321), and which they had resumed 
on the threatening of this attack ; 

y\ >% 

•^^ 



KaitLci'ads 




also the peculiar four-deep forma- 
tion of the brigade (note 212, page 
322). Oolborne, afterwards Lord 
Seatou, was a man of mark in the 
British army — " peerless among all 
the brave men who led Wellington's 
battalions," Ohesney describes him ; 
and the discipline of his 5 2d regiment 



was noted, and had won it great fame 
in the Peninsular war. Colborne 
had watched carefully the move- 
ments of the Imperial Guard, until 
he assured himself that it was about 
to advance diagonally in front of his 
own line : discerning his opportunity, 
he waited for no orders, but wheeled 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— LAST ATTACK. 3^ 

French column had by this time nearly reached the Battle of 
brow of the rido;e, its front coverincp almost the whole l^^- 

T R 

of Napier's battery and a portion of the extreme right ^^^ ' 
of Maitland's brigade. It was still gallantly pressing 
forward, in defiance of the most galling fire poured into 
its front by the battery and by the British Guards, 
when the sudden and imposing appearance of the four- 
deep line of the 5 2d regiment bearing directly toward 
its left flank, in the most admirable and compact order 
imaginable, caused it to halt. In the next instant, sp.m. 
wheeling up its left sections, it opened a rapid and 
destructive fire from the entire length of its left flank 
against the 5 2d regiment. Colborne, having brought 
his line parallel to the line of the Imperial Guard, also 
halted, and poured a deadly fire into the mass ; and 
almost at the same moment the rifles of the 2d battalion 
95th regiment, then coming up on the left, were levelled 
and discharged with unerring aim into the more ad- 
vanced portion of the column. The 71st regiment was 
at this time rapidly advancing on the right to complete 
the brigade movement. Colborne, eager to carry out 
his projected flank attack upon the enemy's column, 
caused his men to cease firing, and then gave the com- 
mand, ' Charge ! charge ! ' It was answered by three 

his left company ahout one-eiglitli of to front the advancing Guard, and, 

a circle to its left, so as to bring its riding to the right of Napier's bat- 

fiont nearly parallel with the flank tery, was sending orders to the troops 

of the coming column, and then on his right to attack the Imperial 

formed the remainder of his regiment Guard, when the movement of the 

upon that company. Adam, riding 5 2d showed him that his intentions 

up, asked Colborne what he was had been anticipated, and he pushed 

going to do, and Colborne answered, forward the 2d battalion of the 95th 

" To make that column feel our regiment in continuation of the left 

fire ; " whereupon Adam galloped off of the 52d. This took part in the 

to bring up the 71st regiment to con- attack, but the 71st and 3d battalion 

form with this new front. Welling- of the 95th were not at the outset 

ton had just seen Maitland's brigade sufficiently advanced, and the work 

re-formed after its last charge, so as fell mainly on the 5 2d. 



o 



66 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND "WATERLOO, 



June i8. 



Battle of hearty British cheers that rose distinctly above the 
shouts of ' Vive VEmpereur ! ' and tlie now stragghng 
and unsteady fire from tlie column. The 2d battalion 
95th regiment hastened to join in the charge on its 
right. The movement was remarkable for the order, 
the steadiness, the resoluteness, and the daring by which 
it was characterized. The column of the Imperial 
Guard, which already seemed to reel to and fro under 
the effect of the front and flank fire which had been so 
successfully brought to bear upon it, was evidently in 
consternation as it beheld the close advance of Adam's 
brigade. Some daring spirits — and it contained many 
within its ranks — still endeavoured to make at least a 
show of resistance ; but the disorder, which had been 
rapidly increasing, now became uncontrollable ; and 
this second column of the Imperial Guard, breaking 
into the wildest confusion, shared the fate of the first — 
with this difference, however, that in consequence of 
the combined front and flank fire in which it had been 
so fatally involved, and of the unrestrained pursuit 
which deprived it of the power of rallying its com- 
ponent parts, it became so thoroughly disjointed and 
dispersed that, with the exception of the two rear batta- 
lions, which constituted the ist regiment of chasseurs 
(Old Guard), it is extremely doubtful whether any por- 
tion of it ever re-united as a regularly formed military 
body during the brief remaining period of the battle — 
certainly not on the Allied side of La Belle Alliance, 
toward which point it directed its retreat. "^^^ As to 

"^^^ Siborne, from whom the ac- the moment it came to a halt. With 
count of the repulse of the Guard is its front immediately facing a battery 
quoted, comments further upon it as within 60 or 70 yards distance, the 
follows: "Troops could scarcely be double-shotted guns of which con- 
placed in a more critical situation tinned ploughing through the mass 
than was this second attacking and tearing up its ranks ; with its 
column of the Imperial Guard from left flank faced outwards to repel a 



BATTLE OF -WATEELOO— LAST ATTACK. 



Z^7 



tlie two battalions of the Old Guard, — wliicli were com- Battle of 
manded by Gen. Cambronne, and owed tlieir immunity 



June i8. 



formidable attack on that side, and 
its riglit flank exposed to the oblique 
fire of the greater portion of the line 
of British Guards, the interior of the 
mass enveloped in smoke, feeling a 
pressure from both front and flank, 
and yet perceiving no indication of 
the means of extricating itself from 
so perilous a position, it was truly a 
most trying moment even to such 
veteran warriors as those who con- 
stituted the renowned Imperial Guard 
of France. Any attempt at deploy- 
ment to its right while thus attacked 
on its left was of course out of the 
question. Had it continued to ad- 
vance until Adam's brigade had 
approached quite close to its left 
flank, the charge of the latter must 
have brought it to a stand and ren- 
dered the efforts of the head of the 
column abortive. If, on the other 
hand, after having faced altogether 
to tlie left and converted that flank 
into a compact line, it had advanced 
to meet the 5 2d regiment when it 
first became aware of this attack, it 
would have still been exposed on the 
right (its previous front) to the havoc 
created by ISapier's guns, as also 
to a charge by Maitland's brigade, 
which, by bringing forward its left 
shoulder, might have rendered the 
situation of the column so hopeless 
as probably to have led to its imme- 
diate and unqualified surrender on 
the spot. The dilemma into which 
these veterans were thus thrown was 
mainly attributable to the fatal ne- 
glect of not accompanying the column 
with an effective support of cavahy. 
A strong body of the latter on each 
flank, or in its immediate rear, would 
have secured the column from any 



such flank attack as that which so 
successfully arrested its progress and 
so completely effected its dispersion." 
= A controversy has arisen about 
this repulse between those, on the 
one hand, who claim that the 52d 
regiment alone and unaided stopped 
and routed the Imperial Guard, and 
those who hold that Maitland's 
Guards had a greater or less share in 
the honour. Chesney examines the 
evidence carefully, and reaches a 
conclusion in accordance with Si- 
borne's story quoted above. In re- 
ference to the defeat of the Guard 
he quotes from the previously un- 
published Journal of Sir Henry 
Clinton, the commander of the 3d 
division, whicli included Adam's 
brigade, the following entry, made 
on the night of the battle : — " About 
7 P.M. the enemy appeared to be 
decidedly beaten, and our artillery 
was nearly exliausted ; but flnding 
the Prussians, whose attack on his 
right commenced at about 5^ o'clock, 
to be gaining ground, and unable to 
make a good retreat in the presence 
of two armies which had been suc- 
cessful, Buonaparte determined to 
make one great effort to compel the 
Duke of Wellington to retire. For 
this object he brought forwai'd his 
Imperial Guards and reinforced all 
his batteries, which he advanced and 
began his attack with. The weight 
of this was directed against the 
brigade of Guards. It was steadily 
received and repulsed, and the enemy 
was followed up by the brigade of 
Gen. Adam, supported by the Osna- 
briick battalion, the Legion, 23d 
regiment, etc. We had no sooner 
gained the Genappe [Charleroi] road 



368 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 

June i8. 

V. 



from the ruin that had overtaken the rest of the column 
to the inabihty of Adam's right-hand battahons to get 
up in time to join in the 52d's attack, — they retired in 
the direction of La Belle Alliance until they were over- 
taken and disordered by Col. Hew Halkett, who pursued 
them with a battahon of Hanoverians. The wreck of 
the broken battalions of the Middle Guard had been 
impelled by the charge of the 5 2d in a direction that 
soon brought it in contact with the rear of Donzelot's 
columns, which had hitherto continued their attack 
upon Alten's division with unrelenting severity ; but 
now they caught the panic from the flying Guard ; 
their attack hesitated, slackened, ended ; and they broke 
into the general flight which — set in motion thus at La 
Haye Sainte, and at the same time by Zieten's onset at 



thantlie enemy abandoned everything 
and took to his heels ; but as there 
was still a large body of cavalry, I 
kept the Legion and 23d regiment 
in reserve, and continued to advance. 
In the road I met with some Prus- 
sians, who had the same success on 
their side." The final sentence inci- 
dentally goes to show that Zieten's 
success over Durutte must have been 
at least as early as the defeat of the 
Lnperial Guard. Charras urges a 
most surprising claim to the honour 
of repulsing the Guard — his clients 
being the Dutch-Belgians I "A 
Dutchman," he says, " a soldier 
formed and brought up in our [the 
French] ranks, but faithful to the 
flag of his country, Chass^ seized the 
moment, and, at the head of a demi- 
brigade in close column, charged the 
left of the Guard with levelled 
bayonets : Wellington pushed for- 
ward Mailland's brigade. Fired 
upon with grape and musketry, re- 
duced to 1,500 or 1,600 men, the 



Guard recedes, under the pressure of 
niunbers ; but it withdraws fighting, 
slowly, in good order, and unbroken." 
The authority Charras cites for this 
is Chass^ himself, in a letter to Lord 
Hill (July 5,- 18 1 5). Siborne's ac- 
count of the manner in which Ohass^'s 
troops were comporting themselves 
just before this juncture has been 
given in note 240, page 363, ad 
Jinem; and that of their exploits 
just after appears in a later note 
(245, page 373). = It is to this time 
in the battle that there has been at- 
tached by popular consent the episode 
which Alison, following Scott, who 
probably followed Lacoste, tells 
thus : " Napoleon . . . preserved his 
calm demeanour till the Old Guard 
recoiled in disorder, with the British 
cavalry mingled with their bayonets. 
He then became as pale as death, 
and observed to the guide, ' 77s sont 
meles ensemble,^ " and retired toward 
the rear of the field. 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 369 

Papelotte — communicated itself as if electrically through Battle of 
the whole length of D'Erlon's corps. Almost instan- ^}^- 
taneously, from end to end of the front line, their in- !^^ ' 
furiated attack was transformed into a tumultuous rout, 
and the cries of " Vive VEmpereur ! " into those of 
'■'■ Sauve qui pent! " Except at the two extremes, Hou- 
gomont and Planchenoit, — where the combatants were 
too much engrossed in their own desperate struggle to 
know what went on outside, — the sole remaining point 
of cohesion in the front of the battle was about Napo- 
leon himself. He had rallied with wonderful rapidity 
the 4 battalions of the Guard of the column first over- 
thrown, had formed them into three squares on the 
central elevation west of the " hollow- way " of the 
Charleroi road, and now made his last effort to stem 
the tide of disaster. 

There was no delay in the pursuit of the defeated 
Guard. Adam's brigade pressed on instantly in the 
track of their flight, and a moment later Vivian's 
hussars were in motion to charge the enemy directly in 
front. Colborne — who seems to have cared little about 
waiting for orders, and to have taken the initiative in a 
manner ventured upon by very few among Wellington's 
oflicers — never paused in his victorious charge ; but — 
followed shortly by the rest of the 3d British brigade, 
and by Hew Halkett with the Osnabrtick Landwehr 
battalion of his 3d Hanoverian brigade — continued 
advancing toward the Charleroi road in a course which 
led him diagonally in front of Maitland's and Alten's 
divisions, and so close to La Haye Sainte that the bat- 
talion of the 95 th on the left of his line was crowded 
into its orchard. ^^^ Sweeping before it the vestiges of 

^'^ Tlie independent course of Col- unhesitating pursuit of his advantage 

borne, both in his original attack — all entirely on his own responsi- 

upon the Imperial Guard and his bility — cannot be too much insisted 

B B 



370 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



the Guard and crowds of Donzelot's soldiery, all hustling 
one another and throwing away their arms in their eager- 
ness to escape the English, the 5 2d came on until hear the 
Charleroi road ; and then, seeing the three formed batta- 
lions which Napoleon had rallied on the central elevation, 
it brought forward its left shoulder until its front was 
parallel with theirs, moved on near to them, and halted in 
their front. = Vivian had led his hussar brigade forward 
almost as soon as Adam's infantry was in motion. Leaving 
the Anglo-Allied line from the right of Maitland's brigade, 
he took a direction parallel to the Charleroi road — 
riding himself at the head of the loth hussars, the i8th 
following, and then the ist hussars of the German 
Legion, while but a little distance in rear of Vivian's 
brigade came Dornberg's 2d light dragoons of the 
German Legion. As the horsemen passed the brow of 
the slope they rode into the cloud of smoke yet remain- 



upon as a thiug wholly at variance 
witli the usual mode of procedure iu 
Wellington's army. Kennedy con- 
siders this achievement so far decisive 
of the course of the battle, that his 
narrative follows the march of the 
5 2d regiment continuously until the 
close of the day, grafting upon it the 
other incidents of the action. " It 
is perhaps impossible," he says, " to 
point out in history any other in- 
stance in which so small a force as 
that with which Colborne acted had 
so powerful an influence on the 
result of a great battle in which the 
numbers engaged on each side were 
so large." = The order in which the 
regiments of Adam's brigade marched 
in this pursuit was as shown in the 
diagram in note 241, page 364; but, 
still in the right rear of the 3d battalion 
95th should be added Hew Halkett's 
Osnabriick battalion. Adam, when 



advancing the remainder of his bri- 
gade to follow Oolborne's lead, de- 
sired the support of other troops to 
cover his right flanlj against the 
probable attacks of French cavalry ; 
and Halkett, seeing what was needed, 
piu'posed following with his whole 
brigade, but his other battalions 
were back of Hougomont, and the 
messenger who went to summon 
them was killed by the way ; so 
Halkett advanced with but one bat- 
talion. This was so drawn up as to 
be able to form square if attacked by 
cavalry, while the regiments of 
Adam's brigade preserved their four- 
deep formation. Halkett's battalion, 
however, soon got drawn oiF into an 
independent pursuit of its own, and 
had an erratic experience for the 
remainder of the day and during the 
following night. 



W-' 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 



371 



June 18. 



ins from the action with the Imperial Guard. Presently Battle of 
they were able to discern before them disordered in- 
fantry columns and crowds of stragglers pouring on in 
retreat ; and it was not until they were well advanced 
toward the French position that they could see directly 
ahead formed bodies of troops evidently awaiting their 
attack. These consisted of two infantry squares, — the 
two battalions of the ist grenadiers of the Old Guard 
which had been left in reserve for the protection of the 
Imperial headquarters, — with cavalry and artillery on 



JIoVLaomont 





•* 









(> 








6. 


QLoLCfuacrd^^^^y^ 


s 






V 


^^"^^ 




lioLLot^^^^ 


^Wix.y/-' 




X 


J^oteoa-tes . 


, :kc 


iCsra 



"'"LaJielie. 
Tklmbtiott. 




both flanks, the whole posted on the rising ground 
between the south-eastern angle of Hougomont and La 
Belle Alliance.''^** Vivian was moving on to charge. 



^** Li the diagram tlie positions 
of tlie two squares of tlie ist regiment 
of grenadiers of tlie Old Guard are 
shown veiy nearly where they made 
their stand against the onset of the 
Allied cavalry. The disposition of 
the artillery on the flanks of the 
squares is probably fairly correct, 
and that of the lines of cavalry on 
either flank and in rear only ap- 

B B 



proximately so. The cavalry line on 
the French left front was a body of 
lancers of the Guard, and was 
dravra up on the brow of the rising 
ground. The other cavalry on the 
left of the squares were dragoons 
and carbineers of the Guard, Those 
in rear and on the right of the 
squares were the remnants of the 
various cavalry corps which had 
2 



%']2 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of intending to turn tlie left of the French force, when he 
^^^L^- was overtaken by Sir Cohn Campbell with a message 
!^^ ■ from Wellington that he was not to engage unless con- 
fident of success ; but Vivian argued the importance 
of dispersing the French cavalry before it could 
attack the advancing Allied infantry, and Campbell, 
agreeing with him, returned to the Duke. Vivian now 
left his two rear regiments in support, and led the 
loth, obliquely to their right as they advanced, against 
the left of the French line, a body of lancers which 
stood before the rest ; his advance was obstructed by a 
squadron of cuirassiers, who were beaten ofi"; he was 
overtaken by Dornberg's 2d light dragoons, which came 
up on his right, and were charged by the lancers, who 
rode down the hill upon them ; but Vivian's hght 
squadron came upon the flank of the lancers when they 
were in the act of closing with the hght dragoons and 
scattered them ; the centre squadron of the loth cut 
into some French heavy dragoons who followed in 
support of the lancers, and drove them before them ; 
while the left squadron, continuing its course, com- 
pleted the work of the charge by putting to flight the 
remainder of the French cavalry on the (French) left of 
the squares. The right and part of the centre squadron 
of the loth, under its colonel. Lord Eobert Manners, 
joined the 2d light dragoons in a pursuit of the French 
horsemen that led them far into the valley south-east 

been destroyed iu the previous brigades was but 2,256 in the morn- 

cliarges — squadrons representing ing, and the Frencli mustered 

what had been entire regiments or lancers, cuirassiers, and several other 

brigades. Their strength cannot be varieties of cavalry besides chasseurs, 

stated even approximately. Thiers Probably the numbers of French and 

says indeed, " Of the entire cavalry Allied cavalry were not greatly differ- 

of the Guard he [Napoleon] has but ent ; but the British regiments which 

400 chasseurs to oppose to 3,000 now came into action were compara- 

of the enemy ; " but the combined tively fresh, the French exhausted 

strength of Vivian's and Vandeleur's by frequent charges. 



June i8. 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 373 
of Hougomont. Vivian, orderiuo; the halt and re-form- Battle of 

^°T . T p ,1 ^ . , . Waterloo. 

mg 01 the remainder 01 tlie regiment where it was, 
returned quickly to bring up the i8th hussars to con- 
tinue the work so well begun. He was attacked on 
the way by a French cuirassier, and, as his right arm 
was in a sling from an old wound, could only defend 
himself with his left hand ; but with it he contrived to 
thrust his sabre into the Frenchman's neck just as his 
German orderly rode up and cut him off his horse. 

The Duke of Welhngton, standing by Maitland's 
Guards, had noted the entire and almost simultaneous 
success of Colborne's advance on his left and Vivian's 
in his front. ^^^ A general survey of the field showed 
him that the time of defensive action had passed ; that 
the last reserves of the French army were giving way 
before Colborne, Halkett, and Vivian ; that D'Erlon's 
columns were breaking ; that the Prussians were press- 
ing their attack both at Papelotte and at Planchenoit ; 
that but little pressure was needed to cause the collapse 
of the enemy's entire front Hue, since his centre was 
pierced and the inner flank of each of his wings turned. 
He gave the long-desired order for a general advance 

245 "VVellington's first tliouglit, as The faces of tlie squares were al- 
Adam's and Vivian's brigades ad- ready broken at intervals by groups 
vanced, was to bring up other in the act of abandoning tlieir ranks, 
troops to fill the vacancy in the whilst several ofiicers of Vandeleur's 
line, and he turned toAvard the near- brigade . . . drawn up in their 
est of Chasse's division. " But rear were zealously exerting them- 
what a spectacle met his view ! " selves in endeavouring to induce 
says Siborne, semi-pathetically. these troops to stand fast. The 
" The 3 Dutch-Belgian squares into Duke, observing this, called out, 
which DAubrem^'s brigade had ' That's right ; tell them the French 
been turned, and whose unsteadiness are retiring.' This intelligence, 
. . . had greatly augmented as the quickly caught up and spread 
fighting and shouting on the exterior throughout their ranks, had the de- 
slope of the ridge, of which they sired eiFect of reducing them to or- 
could see nothing, became more der. They shortly afterwards formed 
continuous and intense, were now into columns, and advanced to the 
in a state bordering on dissolution, front line." 



374 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June 1 8. 
V. 



of the whole Anglo-Alhecl Hne, and himself galloped to 
Adam's brigade, where especially the French retreat was 
to be pushed. ^'^^ The entire line moved forward in what 



2^^ There is something almost 
ludicrous iu the enthusiasm with 
which the school of English writers 
of whom Siborne is a type expatiate 
upon Wellington's ordering this ad- 
vance. Even Chesney, usually the 
most sober of narrators, twice over 
attributes it to " the iustuict of 
genius." In fact, the order to ad- 
vance, so far from manifesting ex- 
traordinary prescience, was perfectly 
obvious, and had already been de- 
termined by the course of events; 
and the person entitled to the credit 
of discovering the right moment and 
acting upon it was not Wellington, 
but Oolborne, who had already led 
the advance, and without orders, 
doing what was needed as a matter 
of course. Wellington undoubtedly 
did the proper thiug at the proper 
time, but the example had been set 
him by Oolborne ; and the Duke 
showed liis gratitude by ignoring in 
his despatches the splendid and de- 
cisive services of Oolborne and his 
regiment, and refusing to repair the 
omission when it was pointed out to 
him. = Another portion of the army 
which had cause to complain of the 
Duke's neglect was the artillery. 
Sir Augustus Frazer, commander of 
the horse-artillery, had succeeded in 
getting his troops equipped with 
9-pounder guns instead of the 
6-pounders which they had used in 
previous campaigns — a substitution 
which Wellington opposed. The 
execution done by the heavier arm, 
especially at the time of the great 
cavalry charges, was most effective, 
and no doubt Frazer was quite 



within bounds when he wrote 
(June 2o), " Had the troops con- 
tinued with light guns, I do not 
hesitate to say the day had been 
lost." But when the Duke's de- 
spatches found their way back to 
the army, Frazer looked vainly for 
any recognition, and wrote thus 
(July 6) to one of his family : — 
" The Duke might have mentioned 
the horse-artillery, which really was 
of essential service. But my . . . 
account of the affair of the i8th 
June, sent to your lady, will have 
told more than all which need be 
said on the subject. Requiescat in 
pace." The tone of smothered vex- 
ation meant much in the case of a 
man like Frazer, who had followed 
Wellington through the Peninsular 
War, and adored him as a species of 
demigod. = One more quotation may 
conclude these references to Wel- 
lington's scant acknowledgment of 
others' services. It is from Greville's 
Memoirs (June 24, 1 821), and gives 
the substance of a conversation with 
the Duke of York, second son of 
George HI. : " His [York's] preju- 
dice against him [Wellington] is 
excessively strong, and I think if 
ever he becomes King the other 
will not be Commander-in-Chief. 
Pie does not deny his military talents, 
but he thinks that he is false and 
ungrateful, that he never gave sufK- 
cient credit to his officers, and that 
he was unwilling to put forward 
men of talent who might be in a 
situation to claim some show of 
credit, the whole of which he was 
desirous of engrossing himself. He 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 375 



Siborne calls " a march of triumph, not of attack, since Battle of 
all fled before its approach." On the extreme Allied right 



Waterloo. 
June 18. 



says that at Waterloo lie got into a 
scrape and avowed himself to be 
surprised, and he attributes in great 
measure the success of that day to 
Lord Anglesea [Uxbridge], who, he 
says, was hardly mentioned, and 
that in the coldest terms, in the 
Duke's despatch." The Duke of 
York, it should be stated, had a 
personal resentment toward Welling- 
ton because the latter had been 
made commander of the Peninsular 
army when he craved that honour 
for himself. = The important thing 
to note about the general advance of 
the Allied line is that it commenced, 
as Siborne fixes the time, not less 
than twelve minutes after the defeat 
of the Imperial Guard — an interval 
during which the first charges of 
Colborne and Vivian had been made, 
and probably also Zieten's pursuit of 
Durutte. It is to this period of 
hurry and turmoil that we must 
assign the stories of Ney's bravery 
during the defeat and flight of the 
Guard. Thiers says: — "Ney put 
a worthy termination to this day, 
which God had granted him to ex- 
piate his faults, by a display of un- 
exampled heroism. He was the last 
that descended from the plateau of 
Mont St. Jean, and in his route he 
met with what were left of Durutte's 
division, beating a retreat. The 
noble remnant of this division, con- 
sisting of some hundreds of men of 
the 9Sth, under RuUiere, the com- 
mander of the battalion, was now 
retreating under arms. General 
Durutte had advanced some steps to 
seek a road, when Ney, bareheaded, 
his broken sword in his hand, and 



his clothes torn, seeing a handful of 
armed men, ran forward to lead them 
against the enemy. ' Come, my 
friends,' he said, ' come and see how 
a Marshal of France can die ! ' 
These brave men, excited by his 
very appearance, wheeled round and 
rushed in despair on the Prussian 
column that was pursuing them. 
They slaughtered numbers, but were 
soon overpowered, and scarcely 200 
escaped death. Ridliere, who com- 
manded the battalion, broke the flag- 
staff", hid the eagle beneath his coat, 
and followed Ney, who was now un- 
horsed for the flfth time, but still 
unwounded. The illustrious Marshal 
rethed on foot until a subaltei'n 
cavalry officer gave 'him his horse, 
and then proceeded to join the main 
body of the army, sheltered by the 
darkness, which at length hung like 
a funeral pall over the battlefield 
on which 60,000 French, English, 
and Prussians were lying dead or 
wounded." = Victor Hugo's picture 
invests Ney's valour with the same 
features of tlieatrical egotism as 
Thiers. " The Imperial Guard felt 
in the darkness the army giving way 
around them, and the vast stagger- 
ing of the rout. . . . Ney, wild and 
grand in the consciousness of ac- 
cepted death, offered himself to 
every blow in this combat. He had 
his fifth horse killed under him here. 
Bathed in perspiration, with a flame 
in his eye and foam on his lips, his 
imiform unbuttoned, one of his epau- 
lettes half cut through by the sabre- 
cut of a horse-guard, and his deco- 
ration of the great eagle dinted by a 
bullet — bleeding, muddy, magnifi- 



76 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND "WATERLOO. 



Battle of 

Waterloo. 



June i8. 



Mitchell's troops found themselves unopposed, for Fire's 
lancers had been ordered to the rear of La Belle Alliance 



V. 



cent, and holding a broken sword in 
his hand, he shouted, ^Oonie and 
see how a Marshal of France dies 
on the battlefield ! ' But it was in 
vain ; he did not die. He was hag- 
gard and indignant, and hurled at 
Drouet d'Erlon the question, ' Are 
you not going to get yourself killed ?' 
He yelled amid the roar of all 
this artillery crushing a handful of 
men, ' Oh ! there is nothing for me ! 
I should like all these English can- 
non balls to enter my chest ! ' You 
were reserved for French bullets, 
unfortunate man, = The rout in the 
rear of the Guard was mournful: 
the army suddenly gave way on aU 
sides simultaneously at Hougomont, 
La Haye Sainte, Papelotte, and 
Planchenoit, The cry of ' Treachery ' 
was followed by that of ' Sauve qui 
pent ! ' An army which disbands 
is like a thaw : aU gives way, cracks, 
floats, rolls, falls, comes into collision, 
and dashes forward. Ney borrows 
a horse, leaps on it, and, without 
hat, stock, or sword, daslies across 
the Brussels road, stopping at once 
English and French. He tries to 
hold back the army, he recalls it, 
he insults it, he clings wildly to the 
rout to hold it back. The soldiers 
fly from him, shouting ' Long live 
Marshal Ney ! ' Two regiments of 
Durutte's move backward and for- 
ward in terror, a,nd, as it were, 
tossed between the sabres of the 
hussars and the musketry fire of 
Kempt's, Best's, and Pack's brigades. 
A rout is the highest of all confu- 
sions, for friends kill each other in 
order to escape, and squadrons and 
battalions dash against and destroy 



each other. Lobau at one extremity 
and Reille at the other are carried 
away by the torrent. In vain does 
Napoleon build a wall of what is 
left of the Guard ; in vam does he 
expend his own special squadrons in 
a final effort. Quiot retires before 
Vivian, Kellermann before Vandeleur, 
Lobau before Billow, Morand before 
Pirch, and Domont and Subervie 
before Prince William of Prussia. 
Guyot, who led the Emperor's 
squadrons to the charge, falls be- 
neath the horses of the English dra- 
goons. Napoleon gallops along the 
line of fugitives, harangues, urges, 
threatens, and implores them; all 
the mouths that shouted ' Vive 
VEmpereur ' in the morning remained 
wide open : they hardly Imew him. 
The Prussian cavalry, who had come 
up fresh, dash forward, cut down, 
kill, and exterminate. The artillery 
horses dash onward vdth the guns ; 
the train soldiers unharness the 
horses from the caissons and escape 
on them ; wagons, overthrown and 
with their four wheels in the air, 
blocJi up the road, and supply oppor- 
tunities for massacre. Men crush 
each other, and trample over the 
dead and over the living. A multi- 
tude wild witli terror fill the roads, 
the paths, the bridges, the plains, 
the hills, the valleys, and the Avoods, 
which are thronged by this flight of 
40,000 men. Cries, desperation; 
knapsacks and muskets cast into the 
wheat ; passages cut with the edge 
of the sabres ; no comrades, no offi- 
cers, no generals recognised — an in- 
describable terror.. Zieten sabring 
France at hjs ease. The lions be- 



June i8. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 377 

to cover the French retreat ; — the brigades next on the Battle of 
left poured mto Hoiigomont and ejected its assailants, 
who were fighting on, ignorant of the defeat outside ; — 
Vandeleur's hght cavalry brigade moved directly forward 
to support Vivian in his attack upon the two squares 
of the Old Guard and the horsemen and batteries 
grouped about them ; — the ist and 3d divisions, with 
the miscellaneous corps interspersed among them, 
advanced to sweep the valley clear of enemies ; — Lam- 
bert's brigade, with part of Pack's, occupied La Haye 
Sainte, where they found only dead French and Ger- 
mans and wounded French ; — and the troops of the left 
wing joined Steinmetz's infantry in driving Ahx's, Mar- 
cognet's, Durutte's, and Lobau's men toward the Cliar- 
leroi road, while the Prussian cavalry pressed before 
them, eager to reach the front of the pursuit. = It was 
to Adam's brigade, however, that the duty fell of 
opening the way for this triumphant advance through 
the centre of the field — as Halkett, and beyond him 
Vivian, now supported by Vandeleur, were doing on 
the right. As soon as Wellington had ordered the 
forward movement of his hue he galloped up to Adam 
where he stood confronting the three ralhed squares of 
the Guard drawn up upon the central elevation, and 
ordered him to attack them. The brigade had be- 
come somewhat disordered by its hasty advance over 
the valley heavy with much-trodden mud and encum- 

come Mds. Such was tliis flight." = as his support in his fatigue, and 

Oharras — who also puts into Ney's quitted him only when other devo- 

mouth the bomhastic saying already tion brought him a new and surer 

twice quoted — gives this account of aid. Near Genappe, Major Schmidt, 

his departure from the field : — " Ney, of Lefebvre-Desnouettes's division, 

bruised, battered, exhausted, limp- dismounted before the hero of 

ing painfully over the muddy ground, Moskowa, hoisted him upon his 

without an officer, without an horse, and assured the safety of his 

orderly, received succour from an chief at the risk of his own life," 
unknown man, a seldier, who served 



37S 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND "WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



bered with the bodies of dead and wounded, and 
especially from having been obliged to detach a section 
to silence some French guns on its right flank that 
enfiladed it during the movement ; and there was a 
delay of some minutes in re-forming it. At this 
moment Sir Colin Camj)bell rode up to inform Welling- 
ton that Vivian was about attacking the French reserves 
near La Belle Alliance, and Uxbridge, who had just 
joined the Duke, was turning to ride to the point of 
action and direct the cavalry ojDerations, when a grape- 
shot struck his right knee and fractured his leg, and he 
was carried from the field,^^^ — the command of the 
cavalry thus devolving upon Yandeleur. The Duke, 
meantime, had become impatient at the delay in form- 
ing the brigade ; he observed the bearing of the squares 
of the Guard, and said, " They won't stand — better 
attack them — go on, Colborne, go on!" The 5 2d 
accordingly ascended the hill, receiving as it did so a 
heavy fire from the front and flank of the squares ; but, 
without hesitating, it advanced to the charge, and the 
Guard, at a word of command, ceased firing, faced 



^*^ Lord Uxbridge, after seeing 
off Vivian's brigade upon its charge, 
had exchanged his tired horse for a 
fresh one and followed Wellington 
to the front, when he was hurt as 
above described. According to Ali- 
son, the shot came from one of four 
gmas at the rear of the field, which 
were discharged by Napoleon's direc- 
tion the last thing before he betook 
himself to flight. Uxbridge was 
carried to a ]iublic-house in "Water- 
loo, where the injured leg was am- 
putated ; and he is said to have reas- 
sured his friends, who stood by 
during the operation, by observing, 
" Who woidd not lose a leg for such 
a victory ? " The loss was more ex- 



plicitly requited by the title of Mar- 
quis of Anglesey, bestowed upon him 
by the Prince Regent (George IV.) in 
acknowledgment of his distmguished 
services. As to the leg, Southey re- 
cords in a note to The Poefs Pilgrim- 
age that " the owner of the house in 
which the amputation was performed 
considers it as a relic which has 
fallen to his share." He bad it de- 
corously enclosed in a coffin and 
buried in his garden under a mound 
of earth, upon which he purposed 
planting a weeping willow ; and Sou- 
they transcribes a glorificatory epi- 
taph upon the leg which the lapidary 
was transferring to stone at the time 
of " the Poet's " visit to AVaterloo, 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 379 

about, and commenced a retreat. While Wellington — Battle of 
after seeing an end made of this attempt to bear back 
against the Alhed advance — rode onward toward his 
right front to observe Vivian's part in the fight 



248 



June 18. 



'^^ Wellington,during this attack 
upon the squares, was in the thick of 
a hot musketry fire, and Sir Colin 
Campbell, warned probably by the 
fate of Lord Uxbridge, said to him, 
" This is no place for you — you had 
better move ; " and the Duke replied, 
" I will, when I see those fellows 
oflF." Presently he was again warned 
by Col. Harvey that he was riding 
into dangerous ground, and answered 
— so the story runs, — " Never mind ; 
let them fire away: the battle's won, 
and my life is of no consequence 
now." Within a few moments of 
his leaving Adam's brigade he was 



seen riding in the very front of the 
pm-suit, with but a single member of 
his staff left beside him. Of those 
who began the day with him, Sir 
WiUiam De Lancey, Quartermaster- 
General, fell woimded, but lived long 
enough to see his newly-married wife 
before his death ; Col. Canning was 
killed outright; Col. Gordon lived 
only to learn that the battle was 
won ; and Lord Fitzroy Somerset — 
the Lord Raglan of the Crimean war 
— lost his arm by one of the last 
shots fired. To some of these Scott 
pays homage in the Field of Water- 
loo : — 



" Period of honour as of woes, 
What bright careers 'twas thine to close ! — 
Mark'd on thy roll of blood what names 
To Briton's memory, and to Fame's, 
Laid then their last immortal claims ! 
Thou saw'st in seas of gore expire 
Redoubted Picton's soul of fire — 
Saw'st in the mangled carnage lie 
All that of Ponsonby could die — 
De Lancey change Love's bridal-wreath 
For laurels from the hand of Death — 



And generous Gordon, 'mid the strife, 
Fall while he watch'd his leader's life. — 
Ah ! though her guardian angel's shield 
Fenced Britain's hero through the field, 
Fate not the less her power made known, 
Through his friends' hearts to pierce his own ! " 



The closing lines doubtless were sug- 
gested by Wellington's deep feeling, 
manifested in many ways, at the 
losses incurred by the victory. In 
writing to the Earl of Aberdeen, for 
instance, to announce to him the 



death of his brother, Sir Alexander 
Gordon, the Duke said : '^ I cannot 
express to you the regret and sorrow 
with which I look round me and 
contemplate the loss which I have 
sustained, particularly in your bro- 



38o 



QUATEE BEAS, LIQNY, AND WATEELOO. 



Battle of Colborne led the 5 2d regiment across the Charleroi 
■ road and continued his advance upon La Belle Alliance 

June 18. 



ther. The glory resulting from such 
actions, so dearly bought, is no con- 
solation to me, and I cannot suggest 
it as any to you and his friends." 
= The mishap of Lord Fitzroy 
Somerset is related at length by a 
writer on that General's career in the 
Quarterly Review (January 1857) as 
follows : — 

" Lord Fitzroy wrote a few 
lines in pencil to his wife to tell her 
the battle was ended and that he 
was safe. They were the last words 
he ever penned with his right hand. 
He was riding slowly, with the 
Duke and General Alava, from the 
bloody field, when a stray shot shat- 
tered his elbow. He refused to dis- 
mount, and continued riding till he 
reached the quarters of the Duke in 
the village of Waterloo. Here he 
was taken into the room where the 
gallant Alexander Gordon lay dying, 
and the Prince of Orange lay wound- 
ed. The Prince used to recount 
that not a word annoimced the en- 
trance of the patient, nor was he 
conscious of his presence till he 
heard him call out, in his usual tone, 
' Hallo ! don't carry away that arm 
till I have taken ofi" my ring ! ' Not 
a groan, not a sigh, not a remark had 
been extorted either by the wound 
or the operation. The ring, which 
had occupied more of his thoughts 
than the jaain, was the gift of his 
wife, and in the midst of his suffer- 
ings his whole consideration was for 
her. He insisted upon removing to 
Brussels that night, that he might 
be on the spot when she returned on 
the following morning from Ant- 
werp, and this affectionate fortitude 



had nearly cost him his life. The 
blood burst from one of the vessels of 
his stump, and he would have bled 
to death, except for the happy cir- 
cumstance that a medical man was 
in the vehicle, and kept his finger 
pressed upon the artery the whole 
of the journey. The surgeon who 
cut off the arm had tied a nerve in 
his haste, and the constant suffering 
obliged Lord Fitzroy, after his re- 
turn to England, to undergo a se- 
cond operation, which he said was 
more painful than [the first.— If the 
earliest thought of Lord Fitzroy 
was for his wife, tlie Duke well 
knew that his second would be the 
apprehension that he could no longer 
retain the office of Military Secre- 
tary. The name of Colonel Felton 
Harvey is associated with a noble in- 
stance of huipane gallantry on the 
part of a French officer, who was 
about to cut him down on the field 
of Salamanca, when, perceiving that 
his foe had lost his right arm, he 
turned the uplifted sword into a 
military salute and rode rapidly 
away. The day after the battle of 
Waterloo the Duke called upon 
Lord Fitzroy, and, after leaving his 
room, told Lady Fitzroy's mother 
that he had appointed this Colonel 
Harvey to be his temporary secretary. 
The exquisite delicacy of nominating 
a substitute who had only one arm, 
and that the left, was no less appre- 
ciated by Lord Fitzroy than the 
intimation it was intended to convey 
was instantly understood. Upon 
hearing the circumstance, he imme- 
diately remarked that the sole thing 
which had weighed upon his mind 



JBATTLE OF WATERLOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 38 1 

and Trimotion, while the remamder of Adam's brigade, Battle of 
flanked on its right by Halkett's Osnabrlick battahon, '''^^^^■ 
kept j)ace with him along the western side of the high- "^^ ' 
road. As the brigade swept on right down the centre 
of the field, its broad front clearing all before it, its 
progress was disputed by a body of cuirassiers which 
had been in support of the squares and now threatened 
to charge ; but the line, secure in its four-deep forma- 
tion, lowered its bayonets, and the cuirassiers, receding, 
joined the retiring mass. On reaching the higher 
ground about La Belle Alliance, the brigade found its 
front more and more obstructed by the crowds of every 
description of troops, fugitives and j)ursuers, which 
thronged in upon its left from the scenes of Zieten's and 
Billow's successes, all making for the single avenue of 
escape that was now becoming densely packed ; and 
presently its left came within the line of fire from Billow's 
guns, still busily plied both against the last of Lobau's 
corps and the defenders of Planchenoit — a fire which 8.30 p.m. 
was promptly stopped, as was also that of the oncoming 

was the fear tliat tlie Duke would his left hand than he had ever done 
think him incompetent to fill his with his right, and in a character 
former post. — The loss of his arm so free and flowing that no one 
brought prominently into view a re- could have suspected his loss." = The 
markable characteristic of Lord Fitz- instance of " exquisite delicacy j^" as 
roy, which would speedily have re- the reviewer very justly terms it, 
moved any doubts which could have goes far to compensate for the Duke's 
been entertained of his continued habitual demeanour toward his sub- 
ability to perform the duties of Sec- ordinates, military and civil. He 
retary. He never permitted himself seems to have employed a boorish 
to be vanquished by a difficulty curtness of address until British 
which it was possible to overcome, officers came to account it a gratifi- 
The morning after the amputation he cation even to have been snubbed by 
began to practise wi-itiug with his " his Grace " — a performance in 
left hand, and shortly became the which much practice made him pro- 
same unusually rapid penman which ficient, and which helped to render 
he had been before. Nay, what is a him one of the most unlovely of 
striking example of the power of militaiy heroes, 
perseverance, he wrote better -ttdth 



QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June 1 8. 



Prussian infantry, as soon as the presence of the British 
troops in that part of the field was made known to 
BKicher. At the back of La Belle Alliance, where the 
Charleroi road is crossed by the narrow road leading to 
Planchenoit, and forming a " hollow-way " through the 
rising ground, Adam's brigade had one more conflict 
with the enemy. The 5 2d came suddenly upon a 
column of French infantry and artillery hastily retreat- 
ing up the sunken road and unaware tliat an enemy 
was near : caught at this disadvantage, the infantry 
hesitated, offered a faltering show of resistance, broke 
and scattered ; the artillery made a dash to scramble 
up the opposite bank ; but the fire of Colborne's men 
brought down some of the horses of each gun, and 
after a few individual colHsions the guns were aban- 
doned. On the right of the brigade at the same time 
the 71st regiment took a battery of the Imperial Guard, 
which its artillerymen were endeavouring to withdraw ; 
and, causing one of the guns to be turned against the 
retiring squares of the Guard, a British ofiicer had what 
was considered the honour of firing into them the last 
shot of the day.^^^ At this point Adam's brigade be- 



^^^ This act of wanton and 
cowardly brutality is told as simple 
matter of fact by Siborne in one of 
tbose biglily complicated sentences 
which so frequently reduce the 
student of his pages to bewilder- 
ment: — "The 71st regiment having 
gained the height on which a reserve 
battery of the Imperial Guard had 
been posted the entire day, and had 
just made an attempt to draw off 
into the highroad, was captured by 
that corps : when some men of the 
right flank company of the latter 
(Captain Reed's) under Lieut. Tor- 
riano, immediately tm'ned round one 



of the guns, which was then dis- 
charged into the retiring columns of 
the Imperial Guard by Capt. Camp- 
bell, aide-de-camp to Major-General 
Adam, and was, there is reason to 
believe, the last French gun fired on 
that day." Sir Walter Scott, in 
Paul's Letters, distinctly recognises 
the firing of cannon into a no longer 
resisting enemy as an honour : " The 
last gun fired," he says, "was a 
howitzer, which the French had left 
upon the road. It was turned upon 
their retreat, and discharged by Capt. 
Campbell, aide-de-camp to Gen. 
Adam, with his own hand, who had 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 383 

came merged in the general aggregation of troops of Battle of 
every kind, and coming from every quarter, which ^^"'^;^- 
thronged the neighbourhood of the Charleroi road from '^ ""^ ^^ - 
La Belle Alliance to Eossome, and its individual achieve- ^' 
ments were at an end, = Col. Hew Halketthad originally 
led foward the Osnabrlick battalion of his Hanoverian 
brigade for the purpose of covering the right flank of 
Adam's advancing line. Soon, however, he became 
engrossed in the pursuit of the French troops immedi- 
ately before him — the two battalions of the i st regiment 
of chasseurs of the Old Guard, commanded by Gen. 
Cambronne, which had escaj)ed the overthrow of the 
rest of the second attacking column of the Imperial 
Guard ; and in following these the Osnabrlick battalion 
diverged from the route taken by Adam's brigade, 
marching directly toward La Belle Alliance, so that the 
battalion passed close to the spot where Vivian was 
attacking the French reserves at about the time Adam 
was driving the three squares of the Guard from their 
stand at the central elevation beside the Charleroi road. 
Napoleon, at the time of the general break of his front 
line, threw himself for shelter into the square formed 
by Cambronne's 2d battahon, and it thus became the 
duty of these veterans to bear their Emperor safely 
from the field and avoid useless conflict by the way. 
Halkett, however, continued to press the battalions 
closely as they retreated, while Cambronne and two 
other oflicers rode in the rear of their retiring ranks, 
exerting themselves to preserve their formation, Hal- 
kett's attention was drawn to Cambronne by the 

thus the honour of concluding the sand-pit — has furnished the o-raud 

Battle of Waterloo, Avliich, it has been catastrophe of the Napoleonic leo-end 

said, Bonaparte himself commenced." that extermination of the Guard by 

= It is possible that it is this mise- artillery which Victor Huo-o and 

rable perforlnance which — growing others have celebrated in heroics, 
like the fall of the cuirassiers into the 



;84 



QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



brilliancy of his uniform, and, directing his sharp- 
shooters to make a general dash upon the square before 
them, he rode at full gallop upon the General and took 
him prisoner. The squares of the Guard, continuing 
their retreat, made their way unbroken to La Belle 
Alliance, entering the Charleroi road there before the 
general tide of pursuit had reached that point ; and 
Halkett, still pursuing, and by this time well in advance 
both of Adam and of Vivian, became so involved among 
the broken yet numerous and still resisting bodies of 
French troops that the squares he had followed across 
the field at last slipped beyond his reach. ^^^ Halkett 



2^° The stories of what Cani- 
bronne said aud did, and what hefell 
his remuaut of the Guard on this 
occasion, are given by the chroniclers 
of the two nations in forms wholly- 
irreconcilable. His countrymen 
thrust upon him honour which he 
disclaimed, and the English, by way 
of compensation, loaded him with a 
kind of detraction equally micalled 
for. Their sentiment, indeed, seems 
to have been predetermined : as long 
before as February 26th, Sir Neil 
Campbell had written from Leghorn 
to Lord Castlereagh, prophesying 
that Napoleon would shortly leave 
Elba and " take with him Gen. 
Drouot and those of his Guards upon 
whom he can most depend," and 
among them " Gen. Oambronne (a 
desperate uneducated ruffian, who 
was a drummer with him in Egypt)." 
Having this last phrase in mind per- 
haps, and with the same kind of feel- 
ing which led Thiers to picture a 
drummer of the Old Guard pursuing 
the Prussian soldiers with his drum- 
sticks (see pages 337, 338), a writer in 
the Qiiartej'hj Revieio garnishes the 
story about WeUington's dinner after 



the battle with this incident : — 
" When the Duke had returned to 
eat the dinner which his confiding 
cook had prepared for him, the first 
person he saw in the room was the 
illustrious Oambronne (the reputed 
author of the phrase, 'La Garde 
meurt, et ne se rende pas^). This 
good fellow had very quietly surren- 
dered himself to a dnwime?', and had 
the modesty to think that he might 
invite himself to the Conqueror's 
table. The Duke, however, declined 
that honour (with others not less 
courteously suggested) on the plea 
of not knowing how far it might be 
agreeable to his Sovereign's ally, the 
King of France." This blackguard 
story is evidently a fabrication of 
later days, for Scott, who perpetuated 
in PauVs Letters all the amusing 
Waterloo gossip of the time, says 
only this : — " Gen. Oambronne was 
also said to have fallen after refusing 
quarter and announcing to the 
British, by whom it was ofiered, 
' The Imperial Guard can die, but 
never surrender.' The speech and 
the devotion of tlie General received 
honourable mention in the Minutes 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 



385 



and his Hanoverians had thus got so far before the Battieof 
general Alhed advance that they were not reached by 



Waterloo. 
June 18. 



of the ChamlDer of Representatives. 
But the passage was ordered to be 
erased next day, it being discovered 
that Gen. Oambronne was a prisoner 
in Lord Wellington's camp." The 
fact appears to be, as to the saying, 
that " it was invented by a celebrated 
inventor of bonmots, Rougemont, and 
appeared in the Independant two 
days after the battle " — that is, while 
Cambronne was still supposed to be 
among the dead, who could tell no 
tales. When he reappeared, how- 
ever, and for the remainder of his 
days, he used to repel the imputa- 
tion ; and, according to a foot-note 
in The Table Talk and Opinions of 
Napoleon I. — a work compiled by 
an English lady, and the authority 
for charging the saying to Rouge- 
mont — " Cambronne, when pressed 
by a lady to repeat the words he 
really did use, replied, ' Ma foi, 
Madame, je ne sais pas au juste ce 
que j'ai dit a I'officier anglais qui 
me criait de me rendre ; mais ce qui 
est certain est qu'il comprenait le 
Franjais, et qu'il m'a repondu. 
Mange ! ' " On the other hand, 
Oambronne is declared to have af- 
firmed that he was at the time so 
stunned by a sabre-cut in the head 
as to be incapable of saying anything 
whatever. The grandiose tribute to 
the Guard, however, had been coined 
and had received the imprimatur of 
Napoleon himself ; and, failing Oam- 
bronne, its admirers were driven to 
find another hero into whose mouth 
to put it — this safe course being 
taken by Thiers. Others — notably 
Victor Hugo — boldly vary the phrase 
used and attribute that to Oam- 



bronne; and yet others, taking the 
altered phrase, select another speaker. 
Of these is De Lesclure, who says in 
his Napoleon et sa Famille : " Napo- 
leon does not appear to have known, 
in its last details and in its supreme 
agony, this justly popular and legend- 
ary resistance — this last sigh, con- 
tained in a last oath purified by 
blood and fire, in presence of which 
even the English themselves, tramp- 
ling under foot their habitual prudery, 
took ofi" their hats. Oambronne, 
modest, like true courage, disowned 
the word subsequently attributed to 
Col. Michel, and which, seeing the 
moment at which it was spoken, 
was sublime as a line of Oorneille." 
= The story of the Guard's last 
struggle, as embodied in the Napo- 
leonic legend, is thus rendered by 
Thiers : — " The debris of the batta- 
lions of the Guard were driven pell- 
mell into the valley, where they still 
fought without yielding. Now were 
heard those words that shall live 
for ages, and which some attribute 
to Gen. Oambronne and others to 
Ool. Michel— 'The Guard dies, but 
yields not I ' Oambronne fell almost 
mortally woimded, and remained 
lying on the ground, for he would 
not allow his men to leave their 
ranks to bear him away. The 2d 
battalion of the 3d grenadiers, re- 
duced from 500 to 300 men, remained 
in the valley with their comrades 
lying lifeless beneath their feet and 
hundreds of slaughtered horsemen 
dead before them, but they still con- 
tinue the combat and refuse to sur- 
render. Olosing their ranks as they 
are thinned, they await a last attack. 



C C 



;86 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 




Wellington's orders that all his troops should stay their 
march at Eossome ; and they kept moving on with the 



and now, assailed on four sides at 
once, they discharge a fearful volley 
that brings down hundreds of cavalry. 
The enemy, exasperated, brought up 
their artilleiy, and discharged volley 
after volley in rapid succession on 
the four angles of the square. The 
angles of this living citadel were 
beaten down ; the square extended 
its lines in order to occupy more 
space and protect the wounded who 
had taken refuge in the centre. 
These brave men stood another charge 
firmly, bringing down the enemy 
in their turn. Too few now re- 
mained to form a square : they took 
advantage of a short respite to form 
into a triangle turned toward the 
enemy, so that in retrograding they 
could save those who had taken re- 
fuge behind their bayonets. They 
are again attacked. ' We will not 
yield,' cried those valiant men, now 
reduced to 1 50. Then, discharging 
their muskets for the last time, they 
all rushed on the cavalry that were 
pressing them so fiercely, and with 
their bayonets killed both men and 
horses vmtil they sank in this last 
sublime outburst of heroism. Ad- 
mirable devotedness, unsurpassed in 
the records of history ! " = Victor 
Hugo devotes to the alleged holo- 
caust an entire chapter, which he 
entitles The Last Square: — " A few 
squares of the Guard, standing mo- 
tionless in the swash of the rout, 
like rocks in running water, held out 
till night. They awaited the double 
shadow of night and death, and let 
them surround them. Each regi- 
ment, isolated from the others, and 
no longer connected with the army, 
which was broken on all sides, died 



where it stood. In order to perform 
this last exploit, they had taken up 
a position, some on the heights of 
Rossome, others on the plain of 
Mont St. Jean. The gloomy squares, 
deserted, conquered and terrible, 
struggled formidably with death, for 
Ulm, Wagram, Jena, and Friedland 
were dying in it. When twilight 
set in at nine in the evening, one 
square still remained at the foot of 
the plateau of Mont St. Jean. In 
this mournful valley, at the foot of 
the slope scaled by the cuirassiers, 
now unmdated by the English masses, 
beneath the converging fire of the 
hostile and victorious artillery, under 
a fearful hailstorm of projectiles, this 
square still resisted. It was com- 
manded by an obscure officer of the 
name of Cambronne. At each volley 
the square diminished, but continued 
to reply to the canister with mus- 
ketry fire, and each moment con- 
tracted its four walls. Fugitives in 
the distance, stopping at moments to 
draw breath, listened in the darkness 
to this gloomy diminishing thxmder. 
— When this legion had become only 
a handful, when their colours were but 
a rag, when their ammunition was 
exhausted and muskets were clubbed, 
and when the pile of corpses was 
greater than the living group, the 
victors felt a species of sacred awe, 
and the English artillery ceased 
firing. It was a sort of respite ; these 
combatants had around them an 
army of spectres, outlines of mounted 
men, the black profile of guns, and 
the white sky visible through the 
wheels; the colossal death's head 
which heroes ever glimpse in the 
smoke of a battle, advanced and 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 387 

Prussians until, late at night, finding no British troops Battle of 
about them, they stopped until morning near Genappe. ^**^'"'°°' 



June 18. 



looked at them. Tliey could liear in 
th.e twilight gloom that the guns 
were being loaded ; the lighted 
matches, resembling the eyes of a 
tiger in the night, formed a circle 
round their heads. The linstocks of 
the English batteries approach the 
guns, and at this moment an English 
general, Colville according to some, 
Maitland according to others, hold- 
ing the supreme moment suspended 
over the heads of these men, shouted 
to them, ' Brave Frenchmen, sur- 
render ! ' — Cambronne answered : 
['****! ']— Out of respect to the 
French reader, the finest word, per- 
haps, that a Frenchman ever uttered 
cannot be repeated to him. We are 
thus forbidden to record a sublimity 
in history. — At our own risk and 
peril, we break this prohibition. — 
Among these giants, then, there was 
one Titan — Cambronne. — To speak 
that word, and then to die — what 
could be more grand ! for it is vir- 
tually dying, thus to choose death ; 
and it is not this man's fault if, in 
spite of the grapeshot fired at him, 
he survived. — The man who gained 
the battle of Waterloo is not Napo- 
leon put to rout ; it is not Welling- 
ton giving way at 4 o'clock — desper- 
ate at 5 ; nor Bliicher, who did not 
fight ; the man who gained the battle 
of Waterloo is Cambronne. — To ful- 
minate such a word at the lightning 
which kills you, is to conquer. — To 
make this response a fatal catastrophe 
— to speak thus to destiny — to give 
this base to the future lion — to fling 
this reply at the rain of the night, 
at the treacherous wall of Hougo- 
mont, at the sunken road of Ohain, 
at the delay of Grouchy, at the 

c 



c )i 



arrival of Bliicher — to be ironical in 
the sepulchre— to manage so as to 
remain erect after one shall have 
fallen— to drown in two syDables the 
European coalition — to offer to kings 
these privities already known to the 
Caesars — to make the last of words 
the first, by associating it with the 
glory of France— to wind up Water- 
loo insolently with a Shrove-Tuesday 
— to complete Leonidas by Rabelais 
— to sum up this victory in one su- 
preme word, impossible to pronounce 
— to lose the field, and to keep his- 
tory ; after this carnage to have the 
laughter for one's own — is immense. 
— It is an insult to the thunderbolt 
that attains the grandeur of ^schy- 
lus. — The word of Cambronne has 
the efiect of a fracture. It is the 
bursting of a heart by disdain ; it is 
the excess of agony exploding. Who 
conquered ? Wellington ? No. 
Without Bliicher he had been lost. 
Blucher ? No. If Wellington had 
not commenced, Bliicher could not 

have finished. This Cambronne 

this passer of the last hour — this un- 
known soldier — this infinitesimal of 
war — feels that there is a lie in a 
catastrophe doubly bitter; and at 
the moment when he is bursting 
with rage at it, they offer him that 
mockery— life ! How shall he con- 
tain himself ? There they are all 

the kings of Europe— the successful 
generals, the thundering Jupiters ; 
they have a hundred thousand vic- 
torious soldiers, and behind the hun- 
dred thousand a million ; their can- 
nons, witli matches lighted, are 
open-mouthed ; they have under 
their heels the Imperial Guard and 
the Grand Army; they have just 
o 



388 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



Simultaneously with the two advances against the 
French centre by Adam's brigade and Halkett's batta- 



V. 



crushed Napoleon, and only Cam- 
bronne remains ; there is only this 
earth-worm left to protest. He will 
protest. Tlien he seeks a word as 
one seeks a sword. He foams at the 
mouth, and that foam is the word. 
Before that prodigious and mediocre 
victory, before that victory without 
victors, this desperate man draws 
himself up ; he endures its enormity, 
but he asserts its nothingness ; and 
lie does more than spit upon it ; and 
overwhelmed by numbers, by strength 
and by material force, he finds in his 
soul an expression — [* * * *]. AVe 
repeat it, to say that, to do that, to 
find that, is to be the conqueror. — The 
spirit of great days entered into tliis 
unkno^yn man at that fatal moment. 
Cambronne finds the word of Water- 
loo, as Rouget de ITsle finds the 
Marseillaise — by a flash ef inspira- 
tion. An efiluence from the divine 
afilatus detaches itself and passes 
through these men, and they start 
up : and the one sings the supreme 
song, and the other utters the ter- 
rible cry^ That word of Titanic 
scorn, Cambronne hurls not only at 
Europe in the name of the Empire — 
that would be little — he hurls it at 
the past in the name of the Revolu- 
tion. We hear it ; and we recognise 
in Cambronne the old soul of the 
giants. It seems as if it were Dan- 
ton speaking, or Kleber roaring. — 
On hearing this insulting word, the 
English voice replied, ' Fire ! ' The 
batteries belched forth flame, the hill 
trembled ; but from all tliese bronze 
throats issued a last and fearful erup- 
tion of canister ; a vast smoke, 
whitened by the rising moon, rolled 
along the valley, and when it disap- 



peared there was nothing left. This 
formidable remnant was annihilated, 
the Guard was dead. The four 
walls of the living redoubt were 
levelled with the ground ; here and 
there a dying convulsion could be 
seen. And it was thus that the 
French legions, greater than the 
Roman legions, expired at Mont St. 
Jean on the rain- and blood-soaked 
ground, at the spot which Joseph, 
who carries the Nivelles mail-bags, 
now passes at four o'clock every 
morning, whistling and gaily flog- 
ging his horse." = Cambroune's well- 
established disclaimer of anything 
exceptionally heroic about his sur- 
render accords with the description 
given by Siborne, who describes 
Halkett as galloping upon the French 
general, and continues : — " When he 
had come up with him and was about 
to cut him down, the latter called 
out that he would surrender. Cam- 
bronne, for he it was, then preceded 
Halkett as he returned to the Hano- 
verian battalion ; but he had not 
gone many paces before Halkett's 
horse was wounded and fell to the 
ground. In a few seconds, however, 
Halkett succeeded in getting him on 
his legs again, when he found that 
his prisoner was escaping in the direc- 
tion of the French column : he in- 
stantly overtook him, seized him by 
the aiguilette, brought him to the 
battalion, and gave him in charge to 
a sergeant of the Osnabriickers, who 
was to deliver him to the Duke." = 
Scott, after mentioning in his Life of 
Napoleon the stories of which Thiers' 
and Victor Hugo's amplifications 
have been quoted, goes on : — " And 
one edition of the story adds that 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 389 

lion, Vivian, 011 their ri^ht, in a third direction, was Battle of 

. , o ' Waterloo. 

continuing liis attacks upon tlie two squares of the Old ' 

Guard and their supporting cavalry and artillery near ' 

La Belle Alhance. After his first charge with the loth 
hussars had dispersed the French cavalry on the 
(French) left of the squares, he lost no time in bringing 
up the 1 8th regiment to attack those on their right — 
chiefly cuirassiers with artillery before the right-hand 
square. As the i8th, in perfect formation, were ad- 
vancing impetuously to the charge, a French battery 
attempted to cross their front at a gallop, from left to 
right of the hussars — the artillery being probably in 
quest of a position from which they could enfilade 
the advancing Allied infantry in the valley ; but the 
hussars were too quick for them ; they cut down the 
artillerymen and drivers, and secured the guns. In 
another moment they fell upon the advanced line of the 
cuirassiers, who scattered before their onset ; and then, 
bringing forward the left shoulder, they charged the 
cavalry beside the square and the guns. These stood 
their ground, and the hussars dashed in among them 
and engaged in a sharp hand-to-hand fight ; but the 
French were soon forced to give way, cavalry and 
artillerymen ; and the entire mass, British and French, 
rolled confusedly away, still struggling, toward La Belle 
Alliance and the road to Charleroi behind it. The two 
squares of the Guard now stood denuded of supports, 
and Vivian started to bring up against them the ist 

thereupon the battalions made a half- unyielding constancy, than by im- 

wheel inwards, and discharged their puting to them an act of regimental 

muskets into each others' bosoms, to suicide upon the lost field of battle, 

save themselves from dying at the Every attribute of brave men they 

hands of the English, . . . The mili- have a first right to claim. . . . 

tary conduct of the French Guard," Whether the words were used by 

Scott comments, " is better eulogised Cambronne or no, the Guard well 

by the undisputed truth, that they deserved to have them inscribed on 

fought to extremity with the most their monument," 



390 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of hussars of the Kincr's German Legion, which still re- 

Waterloo. . • . 

' mained in reserve; but on his way he came upon Major 

— — ' Howard with that portion of the loth hussars, less in 
number than a squadron, which had been held back 
from riding into the valley behind Hougomont after the 
success of the first charge. These were suffering from 
the fire of the left square of the grenadiers, and Vivian 
resolved to attack it, small as Howard's force was, since 
he saw rapidly aj)proaching on his left a red infantry 
regiment which, he took for granted, would attack the 
face and angle of the square nearest to it while Howard 
attacked another angle. But the red troops were 
Halkett's battalion, too intent upon their immediate 
enemy to be diverted to another ; and it thus resulted 
that the hussars, led by both Vivian and Howard, 
engaged a force greatly too strong for them. They 
charged home to the bayonets of the Guard, who stood 
their ground, and a desperate struggle took place, in 
which many fell on both sides — among them three of 
the English lieutenants, besides Howard, who was shot 
through the mouth and lay senseless on the ground, 
when one of the Guard, leaving the ranks, beat him 
upon the head with the butt-end of his musket.^^^ The 

^^'^ Howaid's death was cele- zas of Childe Harold, beginning 
brated by Byron in several stau- thus : — 

" One I would select from that proud throng, 

Partly because they blend me with his line, 
And partly that I did his sire some wrong. 
And partly that bright names wiU hallow song ; 

And his was of the bravest, and when shower'd 
The death-bolts deadliest the thinn'd files along. 
Even where the thickest of war's tempest lower'd. 
They reach'd no nobler breast than thine, young, gallant Howard ! " 

Southey also devotes a stanza to his memory : — 

" Here, fi'om the heaps who strew'd the fatal plain, 
Was Howard's corpse by faithful hands convey'd, 
And, not to be confounded with the slain, 
Here, in a grave apart with reverence laid, 



June 1 8. 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— ALLIED ADVANCE, 39 1 
hussars had not strength to break a square of such Battle of 

, , -, - ^ , Waterloo. 

veterans as they had here encountered ; but they were 

Till hence his honour'd relics o'er the seas 
Were borne to England, there to rest in peace." 

A poem known prohahly to few out- Taylor. His description has a defi- 
side of the readers of Siborne's niteness as to the events and a fidelity- 
book — which includes it as an appen- to historical truth unusual in poems 
dix —was written " By an Officer of of its class, and it gives an excellent 
the loth Hussars, who was present," picture of the part taken in the battle 
Colonel — in 1815, Captain — T. W. of Waterloo by Vivian's brigade : — 

"The Death op Howabk. 

" Back rolls the tide of war ; its refluent wave 
E'en Ney arrests not, ' Bravest of the Brave.' 
For ever turn'd, in wild confusion throng 
Horse, cannon, infantry, the slope along ; 
And while with parting glare the sun illumes 
Helm, cuirass, sabre, lances, pennons, plumes, 
Such splendid pageantry of glorious war 
Alone must swell the soul ; but higher far 
The feelings rose, to see the pride of France 
Thus routed, mingled, while our bands advance, 
Each serried column form'd in order due. 
Each eye elate this glorious end to view. 
Hark ! on the right exulting shouts arise, 
And the huzza of Britons rends the skies ; 
From the left flank, in column, winding far. 
Speeds with a whirlwind's force the swift hussar •,. 
Tho' to their thund'ring hoofs the plain resoimds, 
Still cautious discipline their ardour bounds. 
Who, with a hero's port and lofty form, 
With waving sabre onward guides the storm. 
While through the tangled corn and yielding clay 
His spurs incessant urge his panting grey ? 
'Tis Vivian, pride of old Oornubia's hills, 
His veins th' untainted blood of Britons fills. 

" Him followed close a Manners, glorious name ; 
In him a Granby's soul aspires to fame, 
Or such as erst, when Rodney gain'd the day, 
Ebb'd from his kinsman's wound with life away. 
* Front form the line ! ' cries Vivian ; still its course 
The head maintain 'd, the rear with headlong force 
Speeds at the word, till troops to troops combine, 
And each firm squadron forms the serried line. 
Now to their head as eager Uxbridge rush'd, 
Fate check'd his wish to lead, as sudden gush'd 



392 QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of infuriated by tlie fall of their officers and pressed on 
■ into the ranks, parrying the bayonet-thrusts and slash- 



V. 



A purple torrent from his ebbing wound, 

And from bis charger hurl'd, he press'd the ground ; 

No groan he utter'd, breath'd no fainting sigh, 

But on our squadrons bent his anxious eye. 

Th' heroic eye spoke firm contempt of pain, 

But disappointment not to lead again. 

Then pierc'd the fatal ball young Gunning's heart ; 

Headlong he fell, nor felt one instant's smart : 

Calm, pale as marble forms on tombs, he lay 

As days had sped since pass'd his soul away : 

Ilis charger onward on the squadron's flank 

To battle rush'd, and kept its master's rank, 

" Vain ! [tho' still worthy of their former feme. 
And from a gen'rous foe respect to claim,] 
Vain the attempt ! Some gallant bands appear 
Arrang'd to check the fierce hussars' career, 
Awhile protection for their rear to form 
And shield it from the desolating storm. 
The helm'd dragoon upon our right bears down. 
Couched are the lances of a band that crown 
The hill's low brow, and down at speed they burst, 
Sabre meets lance, and blow encounters thrust. 
They turn, they fly. Vain hope to rally ! Vain ! 
To stem our onward course ; o'er all the' plain 
Amid their bands confusion reigns supreme, 
While o'er their heads our threat'ning sabres gleam. 
At length a pause : a band of vet'rans true, 
Whom no dire terrors of pursuit subdue. 
Form the close square, and on a swelling brow 
Unmov'd they stand, undaunted; onward flow 
The streaming fugitives, yet still they stand, 
Resolv'd to perish for their beauteous land ; 
Resolv'd, indignant, ere the field they leave, 
The stains on Gallic honour to retrieve. 
Here, should they rest, by their example warn'd. 
Others may join, and conflict flerce be form'd. 
Charge, Howard ! charge ! and sweep them from the field ; 
To British swords their bayonets must yield — 
To high emprise upon the battle's plain 
When was the name of Howard call'd in vain ? 
Worthy his great progenitors, he heard 
The call, exulting, and with ready word, 
' Charge, brave hussars ! ' he cried, and wav'd on high 
His gleaming sword. Forward at once they fly — 



June i8. 



BATTLE OF WATEELOO— ALLIED ADVANCE. 393 

ing at the grenadiers, fighting with such fury and Battle of 
desperation that the square — which was now isolated 
from other French troops — yielded gradually to the 
pressure and slowly fell back until it came to the 
nearest of those " hollow-ways " entering the Charleroi 
road from the west.''^^^ Into this it descended pre- 
cipitately, and joined the broken mass of the French 
army behind La Belle Alhance. = During this last attack 
Vandeleur's brigade — which was led by Col. Sleigh, of 
the nth hght dragoons, after Vandeleur took general 
command of the cavalry upon the fall of Uxbridge — 
had come up on Vivian's right. It had moved when 
the Allied line made its general advance, and, proceeding 

No tighten'd rein, no high curvetting airs 

(As their cuirassiers hover'd round our squares, 

In hopes, perchance, some trembling files to spy, 

Vain hopes, in bands where all were prompt to die), 

Now to each panting steed the spurs were press'd. 

His mane wav'd o'er the rider's forward breast — 

Thus rush'd the gallant squadron on the foe, 

Yet firm they stood, their arms iu levell'd row 

Their volleying thunders pour'd our ranks among, 

Where foremost blade on foremost musket rung. 

Three gallant youths the van exulting led, 

Three by the deadly volley instant bled — 

Arnold and Bacon fall, again to rise ; 

From three fell wounds brave Howard's spirit flies : 

Full many a warrior on that dreadful day, 

Brave, generous, gentle, breath'd his soul away, 

But one, more gentle, generous, or brave, 

Never in battle found a soldier's grave. 

Alas ! what tears shall dim the lovely eyes 

Of her who now for absence only sighs — 

Her, whom to leave gives death its keenest smart, 

Its deepest anguish to his bursting heart. 

" Short were your pangs, but ere the spirit fled. 
Heaven grant you saw that not in vain you bled ; 
That your brave followers on the broken foe, 
With vengeance wing'd, dealt many a deadly blow, 
Till mercy check'd each hand, and bade them spare 
The suppliant remnants of the vanquished square."' 

2^^ See diagram, page 371. 



394 QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Battle of at a trot along the eastern edge of Hougomont, had 
' — -^' driven before it many fugitives of every description of 

' force until, on the southern side of the valley and 

beyond where Vivian was engaged, it confronted a 
large column of French infantry in the act of forming 
square to check its progress ; but the dragoons, re- 
ceiving the fire of the French, charged and either took 
or destroyed the entire body, while the nth light 
dragoons, at the right of the brigade, took a battery 
near the south-eastern angle of Hougomont — the last 
French guns in position. The brigade was now not far 
from the range of heights which close in the valley on 
its southern side, and upon these were seen moving in 
good order an entire French cavalry brigade — that of 
Pire, which was marching from its former station on 
the extreme French left to a point on the Charleroi 
road in rear of the army, to cover its retreat ; and the 
dragoons were thus compelled to be circumspect in 
their further operations. By this time Vandeleur's 
brigade and Vivian's ist hussars of the German Legion, 
which was yet in reserve, had come to be the only 
Allied cavalry retaining anything like a semblance of 
formation. The other regiments, after their original 
charges, had plunged into the southern valley in pur- 
suit, and had there become broken into greater or 
smaller parties, which followed up their success as 
chance led them. But there had been a general ten- 
dency among the fugitives to seek the Charleroi road, 
and there — especially about the place where the 
sunken crossroads intersect the highroad and form 
trenches that stopped the advance of horsemen from 
the plain — most of the scattered bands were getting 
together at the time Vandeleur's brigade reached the 
front ; and its presence, together with the coming up 
of the ist hussars of the German Legion, made it pos- 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FRENCH ROUT. 395 

sible to a certain extent to assemble and re-form the Battle of 

Waterloo. 

Victorious troopers. 

The whole district around the Charleroi road back " 

of La Belle Alliance now presented an indescribable French. 
scene of turmoil and confusion. Into it, as into a 
funnel, were pouring from every direction the streams 
of fugitives and pursuers which were rapidly emptying 
the recent battlefield of all its combatants, and were 
here mingled in a tumultuous rabble, where victor and 
vanquished were equally powerless to order their 
movements. " The cavalry thus situated in the van of 
the Duke's victorious army had now become almost 
helpless : it seemed as if carried aloft on the billows of 
the agitated sea, yielding rather to its impulses than 
controlhng the angry element. As might have been 
expected, there were innumerable instances in which 
the rage and disappointment of the conquered foe gave 
rise to covert assaults, which, however, were speedily 
repressed, more especially by the Prussians, against 
whom a word or look sufficed to draw down their 
vengeance upon an enemy whom they held in detesta- 
tion. The loth and i8th hussars of Vivian's brigade, 
whilst endeavouring to re-form between La Belle Alli- 
ance and Eossome, found themselves in the midst of an 
immense crowd, composed partly of defeated soldiers 
of the Imperial Guard, who could but ill conceal their 
mortification, and who seized every opportunity that 
offered to gratify their hatred and revenge. Lt.-Col. 
the Hon. Henry Murray, commanding the i8th, was 
very nearly bayoneted by one of them ; and his orderly 
was compelled, for the security of his master, to cut 
down five or six in rapid succession." ^^^ To intensify 

^^^ The quotation is from Siborne, it fared at the front is told by the 
and shows the state of things at the Erckmann - Chatrian conscript : — 
rear of the flying French army : how " The English pushed us into the 



396 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Battle of 
Waterloo. 



June i8. 



Eout of the 
French. 



this turbulence, the hght, Avhich had long been failing, 
was fast giving place to darkness when Bulow's and 
Pirch's Prussians bore down the resistance against 



valley, and it was through this val- 
ley that Bliicher was coming. The 
generals and officers and even the 
Emperor himself were compelled to 
take refuge in a square. . . . The 
gquai'e of the Guard began to retreat, 
firing from all sides in order to keep 
off the wretches who sought safety 
within it. Only the officers and 
generals might save themselves. . . . 
In the distance the grenadier e was 
sounding like an alarm bell in the 
midst of a conflagration. But this 
was much more terrible : it was the 
last appeal of France, of a proud and 
courageous nation ; it was the voice 
of the country saying, ' Help, my 
children ! I perish ! ' This rolling 
of the drums of the Old Guard in 
the midst of disaster had in it some- 
thing touching and horrible. . . . 
The uproar coidd be heard for at 
least two leagues ; cavalry, infantry, 
artillery, ambulances, and baggage- 
wagons were creeping along the road 
pell-mell, howling, beating, neighing, 
and weeping. , . . The moon rose 
above the wood behind Planchenoit, 
and lighted up this crowd of shapskas, 
bear-skin caps, helmets, sabres, bayo- 
nets, broken caissons, and abandoned 
cannon: the crowd and confusion 
increased every moment: plaintive 
howls were heard from one end of 
the line to the other, rolling up and 
down the hillside and dying away in 
the distance like a sigh. . . , ' Every 
one for himself! — I shall crush you, 
— so much the worse for you, — I am 
the stronger, — you scream, but it is 
all the same to me,— take care, take 
care, — I am on horseback, — I shall 



hit you ! room — let me get away — 
the others do just the same — room 
for the Emperor ! room for the Mar- 
shal ! ' The strong crush the weak 
—the only thing in the world is 
strength ! On ! on ! Let the can- 
nons crush everything, if we can only 
save them ! " = To this frightful dis- 
organization there were exceptions. 
" Two flags had been lost upon the 
field of battle, at the commencement 
of the action," says Charras, contra- 
dicting Thiers' reckless misrepresen- 
tation (note 170, page 261). " There 
was none other lost. Li the crowd 
of these disbanded horsemen and 
foot soldiers, marching and running 
pell-mell, some still armed, the others 
having thrown away or broken their 
sabres and guns, under the impulse 
of rage, of despair, of terror, there 
were seen, here and there, by the 
pale light of the sky, little groups of 
officers of every grade and of soldiers 
spontaneously arrayed about the 
standard of each regiment, and ad- 
vancing, sabre in hand, bayonet on 
the gim, resolute, imperturbable, in 
the midst of the general disorder. 
' Place au drajjeau ! ' cried they when 
the rout arrested their march ; and 
nearly always this cry sufficed to 
cause the very men who had become 
deaf to every word of command and 
to all discipline to stand aside befoi-e 
them, opening them a passage. Glo- 
rious representatives of military 
honour, they often had to endure, 
they always repulsed, the enemy's at- 
tack, and thus saved their conquered 
flags from the attempts of the con- 
queror." 



BATTLE OF WATERLOO— FRENCH ROUT, 397 

which they had been striigghng furiously at Planche- Battle of 
noit. They now came rushing through the village and tfLl°* 
along its either flank, streaming across the flow of the 



general current that rolled down the Charleroi road. French. 
In the gloom, the British and the Prussian horsemen — 
riding in toward the road from the opposite wings, 
each intent upon destroying as many as possible of the 
enemies before liim, and neither looking for friends in 
that direction — encountered one another with sabre- 
cuts, and several such encounters gained headway 
before the mistake was discovered. This new attack in 
flank added, if possible, to the dismay and confusion of 
the flying French. Among these there now remained 
but a single regiment of cavalry which preserved its 
formation amid the universal rout, and in spite of the 
efforts of Vandeleur's dragoons — the foremost troops in 
the pursuit — to disorder it. These retiring horsemen 
were the grenadiers a cheval of the Guard, and sheltered 
the infantry square of the Guard in which Napoleon 
and his staff" were retiring from the field. " The 12th 
British light dragoons," says Siborne, " were the nearest 
to it, having got in advance of the rest of the brigade, 
and were opposite the right flank of the column, 
whence a few pistol or carbine shots were fired at 
them. The 12th made a partial attack, but they were 
so much inferior in numbers (being very weak at this 
period) and were so greatly obstructed in their move- 
ments by the crowd, that they were unable to produce 
any impression upon so compact and steady a body of 
cavalry, which hterally walked from the field in the 
most orderly manner, moving majestically along the 
stream the surface of which was covered with the 
innumerable wrecks into which the rest of the French 
army had been scattered." In this manner the inter- 
mingled troops rolled as far as Eossome, where the 



39^ QUATRE BHAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Waterloo. 

pursuit. 
June i8. 



advance of the foremost British brigades was stayed, 
and they bivouacked for the night, leaving the further 
pursuit to the Prussians, 

WeUington had previously arranged with Bliicher 
that the Prussian army, being comparatively fresh, 
should take up the pursuit so soon as the rout of the 
French was thoroughly completed ; and he had ordered 
his general line to halt upon the morning's position of 
the French at La Belle Alliance. He rode on himself 
until satisfied how completely the enemy had been de- 
stroyed, and then turned back to his headquarters at 

As the two leaders had 



the village of Waterloo. ^^^ 

^^^ The standard story of Water- 
loo represents that Wellington ad- 
vanced only to Rossome, and on his 
way back met Bliicher at La Belle 
Alliance — which is noted as a 
felicitous circumstance — and there 
concocted with the Prussian Field- 
Marshal the details of the pursuit. 
Such is Siborne's story, also that of 
Scott, Loclihart, Ilazlitt, AUson, 
Gleig, and the generality of guide- 
books and encyclopsedias. Thiers 
tells how the two embraced. The 
Rev. Mr. Abbott evades specific 
geography, but says : " Bliicher and 
Wellington, Avith their dripping 
swords, met with congratulations in 
the midst of the bloody arena. 
Each claimed the honour of tlie 
victory." In Wellington's Supple- 
mentary Despatches, however, is pub- 
lished a letter from the Duke to 
W. Mudford, Esq., dated Paris, 8th 
June, 1 8 1 6, which, speaking of the 
inaccuracies in accounts of the 
battle, says : " Of these a remark- 
able instance is to be found in the 
report of a meeting between Mar- 
shal Bliicher and me at La Belle 
Alliance, and some have gone so far 
as to have seen the chair on which 



I sat in that farm-house. It hap- 
pened that the meeting took place 
after lo at night at the village of 
Genappe, and anybody who attempts 
to describe with truth the opera- 
tions of the different armies will see 
that it could not be otherwise. 
. . . But in truth I was not off my 
horse tiU I returned to Waterloo 
between ii and 12 at night." The 
historians, therefore, are imanimously 
in error about the Belle Alliance 
episode, and their consequent de- 
duction that it was on account of 
it that Bliicher gave that name to 
the battle." = Of the Duke's return 
to Waterloo there is a story that 
he narrowly escaped being kicked 
to death by " Copenhagen " as he 
alighted at his headquarters. Ac- 
cording to Gleig, " The gallant ani- 
mal which had carried his master 
safely through the fatigues and 
dangers of the day, as if proud of the 
part which he had played in the 
great game, threw up his heels just 
as the Duke turned from him, and it 
was by a mere hairbreadth that the 
life was preserved which, in a battle 
of ten hours' duration, had been left 
unscathed." 



Night. 



WATEELOO— THE PURSUIT. 399 

agreed, the French were allowed no time for rest or W aterloo , 
opportunity to rally on the northern side of their own The 

„ . "^ . pursuit. 

frontier. Billow's corps was to follow them without a June i8. 
pause along the Charleroi road ; Zieten was to support 
Billow ; and Pirch, turning back, was to march by way 
of Aywiers across the Dyle, to intercept the retreat 
which it was inferred Grrouchy would attempt in the 
direction of the Sambre. Gneisenau led the pursuit, 
putting himself at the head of three squadrons of lancers, 
and pushing on with such energy as to occupy Gosselies 
before morning. " The debiis of Napoleon's army," 
says Jomini, in the Summary of the Campaign^ " re- 
gained Genappe in horrible disorder. In vain did the 
staff strive to form it into corps : everything was pell- 
mell. It would be unjust to reproach the troops for 
this : never had they fought with more valour, and the 
cavalry especially had surpassed itself ; but, little 
accustomed to seeing themselves thus turned and well 
nigh enveloped, having exhausted all their munitions, 
they thought it their duty to seek safety in the most 
precipitate retreat. Each one wishing to retake the 
road he had previously followed, they crossed each 
other in different directions, some to reach the road to 
Charleroi, others to secure that leading to Nivelles 
and escape from the enemy that already appeared on 
the former : the confusion was complete. The chief of 
Bliicher's staff, a man of head and heart, was, notwith- 
standing the night, ordered in pursuit of this tumul- 
tuous crowd with the Prussian cavalry that had been 
least engaged. He appeared unexpectedly before Ge- 
nappe, into which he threw a few shot and shell, and 
this gave the finishing stroke to the rout. The disorder 
was so much the greater, as the avenues of this defile 
had been barricaded to cover the parks that remained 
there ; and this precaution, so often neglected by the 



400 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Waterloo. 

The 

pursuit, 
June i8. 
Night. 



French, turned, under these circumstances, against 
them, by encumbering the only remaining passage-way. 
This augmented the confusion and doubled the loss of 
material." The task of the pursuers, in Thiers' words, 
" was well suited to the rage the Prussians felt against 
us. On this night they committed outrages disgraceful 
to their nation, and, if local traditions may be believed, 
they assassinated Gen. Duhesme, who fell wounded into 
their hands." ^^^ The disorganization of the French was 



^^^ Siborne says nothing of the 
killing of Duhesme, merely in- 
cluding him, with Lobau, Cam- 
bronne, and others, among the list 
of those taken prisoners. Scott, 
however, in Paulas Letters, narrates 
it circumstantially and as an act of 
Homeric retribution : — " He was 
overtaken in the village of Genappe 
by one of the Duke oi Brunswick's 
black hussars, of whom he begged 
quarter. The soldier regarded him 
sternly with his sabre uplifted, and 
then briefly saying, ' The Duke of 
Brunswick died yesterday,' bestowed 
on him his death-wound. 

KarQave kol TlaTpoKKos, onep creo 
iroWov afxeivcov." 

In reference to this story, see note 
yy, page 136, ad Jine7n. ^Yictov 
Hugo relates Duhesme's assassina- 
tion substantially as Scott had done, 
and adds with a certain candour, 
" Bliicher commanded extermination. 
Rognet had given the mournful 
example of threatening with death 
any French grenadier who brought 
in a Prussian prisoner, and Bliicher 
surpassed Rognet. . . , The victory 
was completed by the assassination 
of the vanquished. Let us punish 
as we are writing history — old 
Bliicher dishonoured himself. This 



ferocity set the seal on the disaster ; 
the desperate rout passed through 
Genappe, passed thi-ough Quatre 
Bras,passed through Sambref, passed 
through Frasnes, passed through 
Thuin, passed through Charleroi, 
and only stopped at the frontier. 
Alas ! and who was it flying in this 
way ? The Grand Army." Oharras 
says more emphatically than Victor 
Hugo : " The Prussians, raging, mas- 
sacred wholesale, pitilessly. Du- 
hesme was one of their noblest vic- 
tims. ' This crime has remained un- 
punished ! ' exclaims Napoleon in his 
Memoires. This is only too true. 
But had he the right to rebuke this 
atrocity — he who had not even re- 
proved General Rognet, who threat- 
ened, on the day of Ligny, to shoot 
the first grenadier of the Guard 
who should bring him a Prussian 
prisoner ? " (See note 58, page 
108). = Scott had already suggested 
the palliation of the Prussian bar- 
barities which Hugo and Oharras 
admit. " The night," he says, " was 
illuminated by a bright moon, so that 
the flyers found no refuge and expe- 
rienced as little mercy. To the last, 
indeed, the French had forfeited all 
claims, for tlieir cruelty towards the 
Prussians taken on the i6th and to- 
wards the British wounded and 



WATERLOO— THE PURSUIT. 



401 



SO complete that there was no one to create even a Waterloo, 
rearguard, which might easily have held the defile at ThT^- 
Genappe long enough to obtain some respite for the Jun'e 18. 
mass of the fugitives, or even to enable them to re-form ^'^^^' 
at some point in the rear. But no successful attempt 



prisoners made during the battle 
of the i8tli was such as to exclude 
them from the benefit of the ordi- 
nary rules of war. . . . This unna- 
tural hatred, rashly announced and 
cruelly acted upon, was as fearfully 
avenged. The Prussians listened 
not, and they had no reason to 
listen, to cries for mercy from those 
who had thiis abused their moment- 
ary advantages over themselves and 
their allies ; and their light horse, 
always formidable on such occasions, 
made a fearful and indiscriminate 
slaughter, scarce interrupted even by 
the temptation of plundering the 
baggage with which the roads were 
choked, and unchecked by an attempt 
at resistance. Those soldiers who 
had begun the morning with such 
hopes, and whose conduct during the 
battle had vindicated their having 
done so, were now so broken in 
heart and spirits that scores of them 
fled at sight of a single Prussian 
hussar." = Bliicher's account of his 
triumph is given in the following- 
letter to his family, announcing the 
fulfilment of the intentions he had ex- 
pressed when writing from Wavre on 
the 17th (see note 67, page 120) : — 

" Battlefield, La Belle Alliance 
[no date]. 
"What I promised I have per- 
formed. On the 1 6th I was forced to 
give way to force. On the 1 8th, in 
concert with my friend Wellington, I 
have given Napoleon the finishing 
stroke. What has become of him no- 



body knows. His army is completely 
en de Routt \_sic]. His artillery is in 
our hands. His orders, which he 
himself wore, have just been brought 
to me. They were taken in one of 
his carriages." 

"Grosselles [sic], June 20, 181 5. 

" I have pretty well got over my 
fall, but have again had one of my 
horses wounded. I do not expect 
now very soon, and perhaps not at 
all, to have any great battles. Na- 
poleon escaped in the night without 
hat and sword. His hat and sword 
I send to-day to the King. His very 
rich state cloak and his carriage are 
in my hands. I also possess his spy- 
glass, which he was accustomed to 
use on battle-days. The carriage 
I will send you. The only pity is it 
is injured. His jewels and all his 
valuables have become the booty of 
our troops. Nothing remains to 
him of his equipage. Many a soldier 
has 5,000 to 6,000 thalers booty. 
He was in the carriage in order to 
retreat when he was surrounded by 
our troops. He sprang out and 
threw himself without a sword on a 
horse, in doing which his hat fell off", 
and probably, favoured hj the night, 
he has escaped, but heaven knows 
whither. To-day I advance into 
France with the greater part of the 
army. The consequences of this 
victory are not to be calculated, and 
in my judgment Napoleon must fall 
altogether, and the French nation 
must despise him." 



D D 



Waterloo. 



402 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

at a stand was made. Lobau did indeed assemble some 
Thl^- 200 or 300 men at Genappe and attempt to show a 
June 18. front against the pursuers ; but he was abandoned by 
fj'^p^*; his followers and made prisoner. The rearmost of the 
French troops in the place betook themselves to re- 
newed flight as soon as the Prussians were heard 
coming. The Grand Army was for ever dissolved. 

Napoleon had passed from the battlefield in the 
square of the Old Guard. " He had lost all hope," says 
Thiers. " With sombre but calm countenance, he rode 
in the centre of the square, his far-seeing glance probing 
futurity, and seeing that more than a battle had been 
lost that day ! He only interrupted these gloomy me- 
ditations to enquire for his lieutenants, some of whom 
were among the wounded near him. . . . The square, 
in whose centre Napoleon had sought refuge, was so 
stupefied that the men advanced almost without speak- 
ing. Napoleon, alone, sometimes addressed a few words 
to the Major-General, or to his brother Jerome, who 
was still beside him. Sometimes, when much annoyed 
by the Prussian squadrons, the square halted, and the 
side that was attacked fired ; then the sad and silent 
march was resumed, disturbed occasionally by the tor- 
rent of fugitives that swept by, or by the cavalry of the 
enemy. They thus arrived at Genappe about 1 1 at 
night. The bridge of this little town was so encum- 
bered by the wagons of the artillery that the passage 
was completely blocked. ... At Genappe Napoleon 
left the square of the Guard where he had taken refuge. 
The other squares, being encumbered by wounded and 
fugitives, had been broken up. From the time of their 
arrival at Genappe, each sought his own safety as best 
he could." With an escort of some twenty horsemen, 
Napoleon continued on the southern road, detaching, 
as they pas,sed through Quatre Bras, an ofiicer charged 



WATEELOO— NAPOLEON S FLIGHT 



40: 



with informing Grouchy what had befallen at Waterloo, 
and ordering him to retire upon Namur. The fallen 
Emperor ^^^ — not yet admitting to himself that political 



Waterloo. 

Napoleon s 
flight. 
June 19. 

I A.M. 



^^^ A still sadder account of Na- 
poleon's retreat ia given in the Me- 
moires of S(5gur, who was informed 
by Monthyon that, ''when the catas- 
trophe was declared, he and the 
Grand Marshal Bertrand could only 
enable the Emperor to make good 
his retreat to Charleroi by holding 
him up between them on his horse, 
his body sunk {affaisse) and his head 
shaking, overcome by a feverish 

" Mais quand la pauvre Champagne 
Fut en proie aux strangers, 
Lui, bravant tons les dangers, 

Semblait seul tenir la campagne. 
Un soir, tout comme aujourd'hui, 
J'entends frapper a la porte ; 
J'ouvre, bon Dieu ! c'etait ltji ! 
Suivi d'une faible escorte. 
II s'asseoit on me voila, 
S'^criant : ' Oh, quelle guerre ! 
Oh, quelle guerre ! ' 



" ' J'ai f aim,' dit-il ; et bien vite 
Je sers piquette et pain bis. 
Puis il seche ses habits ', 

Meme a dormir le feu I'invite. 
Au reveil, voyant mes pleurs, 
II me dit : ' Bonne esperance ! 
Je coxu's de tous ses malheurs 
Sous Paris venger la France ! ' 



drowsiness." = Some lines of B^ran- 
ger's refer to Napoleon's propensity 
to drowsiness in his later years. 
Their reference, it is true, is to the 
campaign of France in the preceding 
year ; but they show that the habit 
was among the popidar traditions of 
the great warrior. The verses are 
from Les Souvenirs du Peuple, the 
translation being Father Prout's : — 

"But when all Europe's gathered 
strength 
Burst o'er the French frontier at 
length, 
'Twill scarcely be believed 
What wonders, single-handed, he 
achieved. 
Such general ne'er lived ! 
One evening on my threshold stood 
A guest — 'twas he ! Of warriors 

few 
He had a toil-worn retinue. 
He flung himself into this chair of 
wood, 
Muttering, meantime, with fear- 
ful air, 
' Quelle ffuerre! oh, quelle guerre P 

" He said, ' Give me some food,' — 
Brown loaf I gave, and homely 

wine. 
And made the kindling fire- 
blocks shine. 
To dry his cloak \at\\ wet bedewed. 
Soon by the bonny blaze he slept, 
Then, waking, chid me (for I 
wept) ; 
* Courage ! ' he cried, * I'll strike for 
all 
Under the sacred wall 
Of France's noble capital ! ' " 



404 QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Waterloo. 

Napoleon's 
flight. 
Jimc 19. 

I A.M. 



and military power had gone from him — pressed on 
toward Paris, and before daybreak was at Charleroi, 
where, four days before, he had entered so splendidly 
upon this short-lived campaign. The fast-following 
Prussians allowed him but one hour's rest at this place 
— then he was compelled to begin his flight anew. 

Over the archway of the gate through which Napo- 
leon entered their town on June 15th and departed on 
June 19th the people of Charleroi have engraved the 
inscription- 



257 



ABUT . EXCESSIT . EVASIT . ERVPIT 



They found for him in Charleroi two 
wretched vehicles. He got into one 
with Bertrand, designated four or 
five of his officers to enter the other, 
and started for Philippe ville, without 
a single horseman for escort." 

^^! The comparison of Napoleon 
with Catiline probably originated 
with Scott, who quoted as a note to 
his Field of Waterloo Sallust's ac- 
count of the defeat and death in 
battle of the conspirator — an account 
somewhat suggestive of Waterloo, — 
and amplified it in this "passage : — 



Charras says of the flight from 
Waterloo that the Imperial party 
" betook themselves across the fields, 
making a long detour to the west of 
the highroad, to avoid any re-en- 
counter with the Prussian cavalry." 
Of the latter part of the flight he says, 
" Before sunrise Napoleon reached 
[Charleroi]. Fugitives, especially 
cavalry who still remained mounted, 
had preceded him. There was al- 
ready disorder in the town. Napo- 
leon traversed it without stopping, 
and made a short halt beyond the 
Sambre, in the plain of Marcinelle. 

What yet remains ? — shall it be thine 
To head the relics of thy line 

In one dread eflx)rt more ? — 
The Roman lore thy leisure loved, 
And thou canst tell what fortune proved 

That Chieftain who, of yore, 
Ambition's dizzy paths essay'd 
And with the gladiators' aid 

For empire enterprised — 
He stood the cast his rashness play'd 
Left not the victims he had made. 
Dug his red grave with his own blade, 
And on the field he lost was laid, 

Abhorr'd — but not despised. 



June 


21, 


1815. 


55 


22, 


55 


55 


25, 


55 



55 


155 


Aug. 


75 


Sep. 


26, 


Oct. 


16, 


Nov. 


20, 


Dec. 


6, 



THE SEQUEL. 405 

This narrative ends with the battle of Waterloo ; Waterloo. 
but it may be not improper to acid a reference to some Napoleon's 
of the events which were consequent upon it : — The sequel. 

Napoleon reached Paris. Tumults in the 
Chamber of Eepresentatives. 

Napoleon's second Abdication. 

Napoleon retired to Malmaison. His Fare- 
well Address to the Army. 
July 7, „ The Allies entered Paris. 
„ 8, „ Louis XVIII. entered Paris. Second Kestora- 
tion. 

Napoleon embarked on H.M.S. Bellerophon. 

Napoleon transferred to H.M.S. Northumber- 
land. 

The Holy Alliance formed. 

Napoleon arrived at St. Helena. 

Second Peace of Paris. 

Ney condemned to death by the Chamber of 
Peers. 

" But if revolves thy fainter thought 
On safety, — howsoever bought, 
Then turn thy fearful rein and ride, 
Though twice ten thousand men have died 

On this eventful day, 
To gild the mihtary fame 
Which thou, for life, in traffic tame 

WUt barter thus away. 
Shall future ages tell this tale 
Of inconsistence faint and frail ? 
And art thcu He of Lodi's bridge, 
Marengo's field, and Wagram's ridge ! 

Or is thy soul like mountain-tide. 
That, swelled by winter storm and shower, 
Rolls down in turbulence of power, 

A torrent fierce and wide ; 
Reft of these aids, a rill obscure. 
Shrinking unnoticed, mean and poor. 

Whose channel shows display'd 
The wrecks of its impetuous course, 
But not one symptom of the force 

By which these wrecks were made ! " 



406 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 



Waterloo. Dec. 
The sequel. May 



7, 
S, 

Nov. 30, 
Dec. 15, 



18 1 5. Ney shot, at Paris. 

1 82 1. Napoleon died, at Longwood, St. Helena. 
1840. Napoleon's body readied France. 
„ Napoleon's body placed in the Hotel des In- 
valides. 



The losses. 



The losses in the three armies that fought at Waterloo 
were enormous, when considered in comparison with 
the total number of combatants. Those of the Allies, 



according to Siborne's 


official returns, were — 






Anglo- Allied Army " 
British .... 
King's German Legion . 
Hanoverians 
Brunswickers . 
Nassauers .... 
Dutch- Belgians (estimate) 

Total .... 
Prussian Army 

Total losses of the Allies 


Killed 


Wounded 


Missing 


Total 


Officers 

85 

27 
18 

7 
5 

142 
22 

164 


Under- 
offlcers 
and men 


Officers 


Under- 
officers 
and men 

4,560 

932 

1,035 
420 

370 


Officers 

10 

I 
3 


Under- 
officers 
and men 


1,334 
335 
276 

147 
249 


365 

77 
63 
26 

19 


582 

217 

207 

50 

1,056 

1,347 


6,936 

1,589 

1,602 

660 

643 
4,000 


2,341 
1,203 

3,544 


550 
162 

712 


7,327 
4,225 

",552 


14 
39 


15,430 
6,998 


53 


2,403 


22,428 



Hooper— the most recent writer on the subject who 
has gone carefully into the figures of the campaign 
since the scrutiny made by Charras — makes no material 
change in Siborne's figures ; but Charras beheves the 
Prussian return to be " a maximum." These figures 
are exclusive of the 2,467 Prussians who fell at Wavre, 
and who of course ought to be included in the day's 
losses. = The losses in Napoleon's army have been con- 
jecturally estimated all the way from 20,000 to 40,000. 
Hooper says, " What the losses of the French were is 
mere matter of estimate, but the total in killed, wounded, 
and prisoners cannot have been less than 30,000. They 
also lost the whole of their artillery, ammunition wagons, 



THE CONSEQUENCES. 407 

baggage, and train. The Anglo-Allied army captured Waterloo. 
122 guns, 267 ammunition wagons and 20 spare car- The losses. 
riages, 2 eagles, and 5000 prisoners." Thiers says, 
" This fatal day cost us more than 20,000 men, counting 
the 5000 or 6000 wounded who fell into the hands of 
the English,"— -but then Thiers, always untrustworthy 
as to numbers, states the Allied loss as " more than 
30,000 men." Charras — repudiating Napoleon's esti- 
mate of 23,600, of whom 7,000 were prisoners, and 
making a calculation, " perhaps not exact," he says, 
from evidences found in the French War Office — be- 
lieves the number of killed, wounded, and prisoners to 
have been between 31,000 and 32,000. The number 
of French who perished can never be more precisely 
known ; but it may be generally stated that, as a mili- 
tary body, the Grand Army was annihilated. = The losses 
in the English army, in Sir Walter Scott's phrase, " threw 
half Britain into mourning. ... It required all the 
glory and all the solid advantages of this immortal day 
to reconcile the mind to the high price at which it was 
purchased." 

As the result of the final overthrow of Napoleon's Conse- 
power and the absolute elimination of himself from the waterToo. 
world of action, Europe enjoyed the assurance of a 
general peace for the first time in almost a quarter of a 
century — since the outbreak of the French Eevolution 
in 1793. But whether the nations of Europe gained 
more than a change of tyrants is far from clear ; for 
the machinations of the Congress of Vienna, which 
Napoleon's sally from Elba had momentarily discon- 
certed, were promptly revived and consolidated into 
the iniquitous compact of the Holy Alhance, with as 
shameless disregard of political morahty and the rights 
of nationahties as had ever been manifested by Napo- 



4o8 



QUATRE BE AS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 



Conse- 
quences of 
Waterloo. 



leon in his consuming ambition for universal empire. ^^^ 
The first exercise by the Alhed Powers of their regained 
ascendancy was to impose the Bourbons once more 
upon subjugated France, and to load her with inge- 
niously onerous conditions, — stripping her of the terri- 
tory acquired under the Republic, the Consulate, and 
the Empire ; placing foreign armies of occupation in 
her fortresses ; exacting from her the payment of in- 
demnities exceeding 1^300,000,000 ; and compelling the 
restitution of those spoils of foreign capitals which 



^^^ TlieHoly Alliance, by wliom- 
soever devised, was originally brought 
forward by the Czar Alexander, and 
the rulers of Austria and Prussia be- 
came his accomplices in the crime, 
and coerced Europe, so far as they 
were able, into connivance. So 
strenuous, however, has been the 
execration awarded it by the com- 
mon consent of mankind that even 
those who were most intimately 
involved in it have striven to repu- 
diate it and shift its odium upon 
others. Thus Metternich, who is a 
synonym for Austria, and who pro- 
fesses to give the history of the 
Holy Alliance in his Memoirs, de- 
scribes it as " nothing more than 
a philanthropic aspiration clothed in 
a religious garb," and a "loud- 
sounding nothing;" says that the 
Emperor Francis of Austria, when 
informed of its purport, declared 
that it " does not please me at all," 
and that the King of Prussia 
" agreed with the Emperor Francis, 
except that he hesitated to reject the 
views of the Eussian monarch en- 
tirely : " declares that, fortified by 
these objections, he (Metternich) 
prevailed upon Alexander to allow 
the emasculation of his progeny ; and 



adds that the matter was of very 
little importance, because ''never 
afterwards did it happen that the 
' Holy Alliance ' was made mention 
of between the cabinets." The dif- 
ference may be in part one of names, 
but it is very sure that the po- 
litical code popularly stigmatized as 
the Holy Alliance was imposed by 
the three Eastern Allies upon un- 
willing Europe, with the exceptions 
only of Great' Britain and the Holy 
See, Even England — though she 
made a merit of holding aloof — re- 
ceived much of the odium. Gre- 
ville's Memoirs (August 13, 1822), 
in speaking of Lord Castlereagh's 
suicide and reviewing the part he 
had taken in the Congress of Vienna, 
says, ''We have associated our- 
selves with the members of the Holy 
Alliance, and countenanced the acts 
of ambition and despotism in such a 
manner as to have drawn upon us 
the detestation of the nations of the 
Continent, and our conduct toward 
them at the close of the war has 
brought a stain upon our character 
for bad faith and desertion which no 
time will wipe away, and the recol- 
lections of which will never be ef- 
faced from their minds," 



THE CONSEQUENCES. 



409 



adorned Paris as trophies of her military glory.''^^^ The Conse- 

T11 IT f» quences of 

legacy 01 hatreds thus bequeathed was not lorgotten Waterloo. 
when the audacious charlatanism of the Second Empire 
restored France — and to all appearance permanently — 
to her old position as the " Grand Nation," so abhorred 
by Blilcher. Napoleon III revived his uncle's quarrel 
with Eussia in the Crimean War. From Austria he 
wrested away her western provinces, to create again a 
Kingdom of Italy. Prussia would have been visited 



^°^ The terms of tlie second 
Treaty of Paris (November 20, 1815), 
as summarized by Alison, were as 
follows : — " The French frontier was 
restored to the state in which it 
stood in 1790, by which means the 
whole of the territory, far from in- 
considerable, gained by the Treaty 
of 1 8 14, was resumed by the Allies. 
In consequence of this France lost 
the fortresses of Landau, Sarre-Loms, 
Philippeville, and Marienburg, with 
the adjacent territory of each. Ver- 
soix, with a small district around it, 
was ceded to the canton of Geneva ; 
the fortress of Huningen was to be 
demolished, but the little county of 
Venaisin, the first conquest of the 
Revolution, was ceded to France. 
Seven hundred millions of francs 
[;^ 1 40,000,000] was to be paid to 
the Allied Powers for the expenses 
of the war, in addition to which it 
was stipulated that an army of 
150,000 men, composed of 30,000 
from each of the great powers of 
England, Russia, Austria, and Prus- 
sia, and the lesser powers of Ger- 
many, was to occupy, for a period of 
not less than three or more than five 
years, the whole frontier fortresses 
of France, from Cambray to Fort 
Louis, including Valenciennes and 
Quesnoit, Maubeuge and Landrecy ; 



and this large force was to be main- 
tained entirely at the expense of 
the French Government. In addi- 
tion to this the different powers ob- 
tained indemnities for the spoliations 
inflicted on them by France during 
the Revolution, which amounted to 
the enormous sum of 735,000,000 
francs more [;^ 147,000,000]. A hun- 
dred millions of francs were also 
provided to the smaller powers as an 
indemnity for the expenses of the 
war, so that the total sums which 
France had to pay, besides main- 
taining the army of occupation, was 
no less than 1,535,000,000 francs 
[^^307, 000,000]. Truly, France now 
underwent the severe but just law 
of retaliation ; she was made to feel 
what she had formerly inflicted on 
Germany, Italy, and Spain. Great 
Britain, in a worthy spirit, gave up 
the whole sum falling to her out of 
the indemnity for the war [amount- 
ing to nearly ^25,000,000] to the 
King of the Netherlands, to erect the 
famous barrier against France which 
Joseph II had so insanely demolished; 
and the Allied Powers unanimously 
gave the highest proof of their sense 
of Wellington being the first of 
European generals by conferring 
upon him the command of the army 
of occupation." 



4IO QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Conse- with greater humiliation, had it been in the power of 
Waterloo, the French Emperor to inflict it ; but Prussia — which 
had been goaded into the way toward greatness by tlie 
oppressions of Napoleon I — had become the greatest of 
military states when Napoleon III was forced into chal- 
lenging her to renew the old quarrel ; and her King — 
who had served under Blilcher in 1815 — triumphantly 
crossed the much-disputed Ehine once more in 1870, 
and had become the Emperor of Germany when for the 
second time the German army entered Paris over the 
ruins of a French Empire, and exacted from France 
another incredibly great ransom. England, alone of 
the victors of 181 5, was never summoned by France to 
the test of arms. England's victory at Waterloo had 
exalted her to the greatest height of mihtary power 
ever attained by her — for since that day her wars have 
been almost entirely against tribes of negroes and sa- 
vages, and of a kind which Wellington would have des- 
pised ; ^^^ — and it was followed by forty years' immunity 
from European complications and from' trouble through 
the innumerable revolutions going on upon the Con- 
tinent. It was not until the rise of the Second Empire 
in France that England was again entangled in a Con- 

260 a j^jy lords," said Wellington sional contrast between the services 
in Parliament, January lo, 1838, which he asked the House to honour, 
" I entreat you, and I entreat the and the sort of warfare which it had 
Government, not to forget that a been his glorious duty to engage in 
great country like this can have no so long. The Duke of Wellington 
such thing as a little war." The was a simple-minded man, with little 
particular inglorious war which then sense of humour. He did not pro- 
threatened England was the " opium bably perceive himself the irony that 
war " with China. Speaking of its others might have seen in the fact 
conclusion in 1842, Mr. Justin that the conqueror of Napoleon, the 
McCarthy, in his History of Our Otvn victor in years of warfare against 
Times, says, " The Duke of Wei- soldiers unsurpassed in history, 
lington moved the vote of thanks should have had to move a vote of 
in the House of Lords. He could thanks to the fleet and army which 
hardly help, one would think, form- triumphed over the unarmed, help- 
ing in his mind as he spoke an occa- less, child-hke Chinese," 



THE CONSEQUENCES. 



411 



tinental war by the devices of the new Emperor ; and conse- 
in her secondary part in that alhance, and the chafing Waterloo. 
of Enghshmen under what not a few of them felt to be 
its humihation, Napoleonism was thought by many to 
have exacted from her former conqueror atonement for 
Waterloo. As to France when left to herself, her phe- 
nomenal recuperative power — which no amount of bad 
rule at home or repression from abroad seems able to 
overtax — has enabled her to endure, without apparent 
exhaustion, a bewildering succession of royal, imperial, 
" provisional," and repubhcan governments, which are 
usually undermined by conspiracies, always dependent 
on armies, and at intervals diversified by anarchy and 
tumult. What is to be the political future of this great 
nation is a problem which it passes human sagacity to 
forecast. ^^^ 



^^' The difficulty of finding any- 
time at which to summarize the past 
or predict the future of French po- 
litical life can hardly be better illus- 
trated than by a passage from the 
Earl of Albemarle's Fifty Years of 
My Life. It was in August, 1851, 
that the autobiographer went to 
Paris as part of a deputation repre- 
senting the London mimicipality, 
and visited a theatre where he was 
assured that he should " see French- 
men enjoy a hearty laugh at their ovm. 
expense." The piece he beheld was 
an extravaganza entitled Les Came- 
leons ; ou, Soixante ans en soixante 
minutes, en six tableaux et demi. 
His summary of it is as follows : — 
" By way of prologue, the god Pro- 
teus appears as cicerone to a sort of 
Prince Rasselas from the Happy 
Valley on a visit to a people espe- 
cially under the influence of that 
sea-deity. This introduces the 
< Premier Tableau,' which is in- 



tended to represent the court of 
Louis XVL The walls of the royal 
apartment, which are adorned with 
silver fleurs-de-lys, are white — the 
first hue of the Oam6leons. The 
courtiers are also in white from top 
to toe. They are all ou pleasure 
bent, and are singing and dancing, 
without bestowing one thought on 
the morrow ; 

' Du present il faut jouir, 
Rions de I'avenir ; ' 

when, lo ! ' le Deuxieme Tableau ' 
(First French Revolution). Scene — 
Paris. On every house is inscribed 
' Prison.' The white courtiers have 
become Red Republicans, and their 
features undergo as complete a trans- 
formation as their dresses. The 
dance of pleasure is changed into 
that of the Carmagnole. ' Nous 
sommes libres ! ' shouts one. ' Oui,' 
respond the rest. ' Egaux ? ' 
' Oui.' ' Freres ? ' ' Nous sommes 



412 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Conse- 
quences of 
Waterloo. 



freres ? ' They now say simul- 
taneously, ' Mon frere, tu m'es sus- 
pect.' Each grasps his neighbour 
furiously by the collar, and sings 
like a maniac a vaudeville, the burden 
of which is — 

' En prison 

Toute la nation.' 

They have all dragged each other 
off to prison, with the exception of a 
fat little Cameleon, who, having no- 
body else to lay hold of, exclaims, 
' Je me suis suspect,' seizes his own 
throat, and carries himself off to the 
air of 

' En prison.' 

' Troisieme Tableau ' (First Empire). 
Scene — An open field ; a camp in 
the background. Grouped as trophies 
are flags of all the nations of Europe 
(those of England alone excepted). 
The Cameleons have become tri- 
colours. They Avear the uniforms of 
grenadiers of the Old Imperial Guard. 
They have a thoroughly blase air. 
By way of passing the time, it is 
suggested that they should take 
some capital city. A map is brought. 
'Let us take Amsterdam.' 'We 
took that last night.' ' Madrid ! 
C'est gentil a prendre.' * We took 
Madrid the first thing this morning.' 
' But how stupid of us ! ' says one 
of them : ' we have forgotten Berlin.' 
To a soldier — ' Va prendre Berlin ! ' 
' And then Vienna ! How droll nobody 
ever thought of Vienna.' To another 
soldier, ' Va prendre Viemie ! ' The 
first soldier comes back : * Nous avons 
conquis la Prusse.' The second : 
' Nous avons conquis I'Autriche.' 
The preceding speaker then says with 
a yawn, ' Since we have no more 
kingdoms to conquer, nothing is left 
us but to repose on our laurels ; 
but first let us raise a memorial to 



our achievements.' The Camfleous 
throw their firelocks into a large 
cauldron, from which there straight- 
way rises a representation of the 
column in the Place Vendome. = 
' Quatrieme Tableau ' (Restoration of . 
the Elder Bourbons). Scene — The 
fleurs-de-lys apartment. Here we 
have a crown and sceptre, a large 
genealogical tree, ribands and deco- 
rations of the order of St. Louis. 
The band plays royalist airs. A 
vaudeville is sung, of which the re- 
frain is — 

' O'est aujourd'hui certain 
Le droit divin.' 

The Camel6ons are first black, 
implying that the Church party has 
regained its ascendancy, but they 
afterwards resume the white. = 
' Tableau Cinquieme ' (the Orleans 
dynasty). This scene is a squib on 
the wholesale stockjobbing which 
marked the reign of Louis Philippe. 
The Cameleons are blazing in gold 
and silver. The conversation turns 
wholly on scrip. Fortune, blind- 
folded, and standing on a wheel, 
passes and repasses over the stage. 
'We are rolling in riches,' is the 
cry ; ' but we want a change. Let 
us have a radical reform, and cele- 
brate it by a banquet.' A table is 
drawn across the stage. Fortune 
appears for a<, moment, her wheel 
makes a retrograde movement, and 
the table suddenly changes into a 
barricade. This brings us to = ' Ta- 
bleau Sixieme' (the anarchy of 1 848) . 
Scene — A street in Paris. The 
street lamps smashed to pieces, 
columns overthrown, trees cut down, 
' maison a vendre ' on every house. 
The Cameleons, once more Red Re- 
publicans, pass repeatedly to and 
fro. To make confusion worse con- 



THE CONSEQUENCES. 



413 



founded, the rappel is continually 
beating to arms. The Cam6leons 
are in all the colours of the rainhow. 
One runs against the other. ' Par- 
don, monsieur.' 'Je ne m'appelle 
pas Monsieur.' 'Pardon, citoyen, 
what is the name of this place ? ' 
It is ' La Place de Louis XV,' 
cries one. ' Pardon, c'est la Place 
de la Revolution,' says another. 
* Pardon, c'est la Place de la Con- 
corde/ says a third. ' It is now 
high time that' — here the actor 
looks towards the prompter, who, 



Waterloo. 



after a considerable row, is dragged Qongg. 
out of his eggshell, and shows a quences of 
blank page. The audience is angrily 
addressed from all parts of the house. 
The author is called for, and appears 
in the form of a small boy, who 
tells the audience that the histoiy of 
the Cameleons stops there, but, 
without committing himself, ventures 
to hope that he may soon be able to 
announce 'le plus heureux denoue- 
ment.' = Four months later," con- 
cludes Lord Albemarle, ^'was the 
famous coup d''etat" 



WATEELOO POETEY. 



CANTO III. Byron. 

STANZA XXI. '. 

" There was a soimd of revelry by night, ; 
And Belgium's capital liad gather'd tlien 

Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright , 

The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men ; 1 

A thousand hearts beat happily ; and when j 

Music arose with its voluptuous sweU, j 

Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spake again, | 

And all went merry as a marriage-bell ; I 

But hush ! hark ! a deep soimd strikes like a rising knell. 1 



" Did ye not hear it ? — No ; 'twas but the wind, 
Or the car rattling o'er the stony street ; 
On with the dance ! let joy be imconfined ; 
No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet. 
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet — 
But, hark ! that heavy soimd breaks in once more 
As if the clouds its echo would repeat ; 
And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before ! 
Arm ! arm ! it is — ^it is — the cannon's opening roar ! 

XXIII. 

" Within a window'd uiche of that high hall 
Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain ; he did hear 
That sound the first amid the festival. 
And caught its tone with death's prophetic ear ; 
And when they smiled because he deem'd it near, 
His heart more truly knew that peal too well 
Which stretched hia father on a bloody bier, 
And roused the vengeance blood alone could quell ; 
He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell. 



Byron. 



416 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



^' All ! tlien and there was hurrying- to and fro, 
And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress, 
And cheeks all pale, which hut an hour ago 
Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness ; 
And there were sudden partings, such as press 
The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs 
Which ne'er might be repeated ; who could guess 
If ever more should meet those mutual eyes, 
Since upon nights so sweet such awful morn could rise ! 

XXV. 

" And there was mounting in hot haste : the steed, 
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car, 
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, 
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war ; 
And the deep thunder peal on peal afar ; 
And near, the beat of the alarming drum 
Roused up the soldier ere the morning star ; 
While throng'd the citizens with terror dumb, 
Or whispering, with white lips — ' The foe ! they come ! they come ! 



" And wild and high the ' Cameron's gathering ' rose ! 
The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hills 
Have heard, and heard, too, have her Saxon foes : — 
How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills, 
Savage and shrill ! But with the breath which fills 
Their mountain-pipe, so fill the mountaineers 
With the fierce native daring which instils 
The stirring memory of a thousand years, 
And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears ! 



" And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, 
Dewy with nature's tear-drops, as they pass, 
Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves, 
Over the unreturuing brave, — alas ! 
Ere evening to be trodden like the grass 
Which now beneath them, but above shall grow 
In its next verdure, when this fiery mass 
Of living valour, rolling on the foe 
And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low. 



WATEKLOO POETRY. 417 

XXVIII. 

" Last noon beheld tliem full of lusty life, Byron. 

Last eve in beauty's circle proudly gay, 

The midniglit brought the signal-souud of strife, 

The morn the marshalling in arms, — the day 

Battle's magnificently-stern array ! 

The thmider-clouds close o'er it, which when rent 

The earth is cover'd thick with other clay, 

Which her own clay shall cover, heap'd and pent. 
Rider and horse — friend, foe — in one red burial blent ! " 



About the passage in Childe Harold, which holds 
indisputably the first place among the poems on the 
Battle of Waterloo, there is httle to be recorded in the 
way of literary history. The stanzas in question occur 
near the opening of the third canto of the poem, and 
were written at a period very eventful to the poet. 
The two previous cantos — which he seems at the time 
to have considered as possibly completing the poem 
— were composed, he says in his preface, " for the most 
part amidst the scenes which it attempts to describe." 
They were published in 181 2, when Lord Byron was but 
twenty-four years of age. During the years imme- 
diately following there ensued the twice-repeated down- 
fall of Napoleon's fortunes and the domestic calamities 
which drove Byron from England.^ It was on April 

^ During this period Byron wi'ote It certainly was prematurely written, 
(April 10, 1 8 14) his Ode to Napoleon without thought or reflection. . . . 
Bona'parte — an outburst of bitter See if you cannot make amends for 
scorn at the fallen Emperor's con- your folly, and consider that, in al- 
senting to survive his power. This most every respect, human nature is 
production subsequently embarrassed the same in every clime and in every 
iiim. On June 12, 181 5, he enclosed period, and don't act the part of a 
to Tom Moore " an epistle received foolish boy.'''' Byron, however, had 
this morning from I know not made his recantation in anticipation 
whom. . . The writer," he observes, of this injunction ; for, on March 17, 
"must be a rare feUow." This 181 5, on hearing of Napoleon's re- 
anonymous correspondent declared turn from Elba, he wrote to Moore, 
himself *' quite vexed that you have " I can forgive the rogue for utterly 
not cancelled the Ode to Buonaparte. falsifying every line of mine Ode — 

E E 



41 8 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Byrou. 25, 1816, that lie left his own country for the last 
time, and journeyed through Flanders and along the 
Ehine to Switzerland, where — at Diodati, on the Lake 
of Geneva — he wrote the third canto during the months 
of May, June, and July. 

Lord Byron's route, Moore observes in his Life, " is 
best traced in his own matchless verses, which leave a 
portion of their glory on all that they touch, and lend 
to scenes already clothed with immortality by nature 
and by history the no less durable associations of undy- 
ing song." Such a tribute Byron paid to the field of 
Waterloo. " I went on horseback twice over the field," 
he wrote, " comparing it with my recollections of similar 
scenes. As a plain, Waterloo seems marked out for the 
scene of some great action, though that may be mere 
imagination. I have viewed with attention those of Platsea, 
Troy, Mantinea, Leuctra, Chseronea, and Marathon ; and 
the field around Mont St. Jean and Hougomont appears 
to want little but a better cause, and that indefinite but 
impressive halo which the lapse of ages throws around 
a celebrated spot, to vie in interest with any or all of 
these, except, perhaps, the last mentioned." On the 
evening after this inspection Byron wrote, and next 
morning transcribed into the album of Mrs. Pryce Gor- 
don, then resident in Brussels, the first two of the four 
stanzas which immediately precede those usually quoted 
upon the eve of Waterloo : — 

■wliicli I take to be the last and ut- King of Sweden may overtlirow tlie 

termost stretcli of human magnani- constitution, but not my book ! ! ' I 

mity. Do you remember/' he pro- think," conckides Byron, " of the 

ceeds illustratively, " the story of a Abbe, but not ivith him." = It should 

certain Abbe, who wrote a treatise be added that, during the years re- 

on the Swedish Constitution, and ferred to in the text, Byron made 

proved it indissoluble and eternal ? five contributions to the poetical 

Just as he had corrected the last literature upon Napoleon's final over- 

sheet, news came that Gustavus III throw — four of them " from the 

had destroyed this immortal govern- French," 
ment. ' Sir,' quoth the Abbe ' the 



WATERLOO POETRY. 



419 



" Stop ! for thy tread is on an Empire's dust ! 
An earthquake's spoil is sepulchred below ! 
Is the spot mark'd with no colossal bust, 
Nor column trophied for triumphal show ? 
None ; but the moral's truth tells simpler so, 
As the ground was before, thus let it be ; — 
How that red rain hath made the harvest grow ! 
And is this all the world has gain'd by thee. 
Thou first and last of fields ! king-making Victory ? 

" And Harold stands upon this place of skulls. 
The grave of France, the deadly Waterloo ! 
How in an hour the power which gave annuls 
Its gifts, transferring fame as fleeting too ! 
In ^ pride of place' here last the eagle fleiu, 
Then tore with bloody talon the rent plain,^ 
Pierced by the shaft of banded nations through ; 
Ambition's life and labours all were vain ; 

He wears the shatter'd links of the world's broken chain. 

* The lines italicised above read, in tlie first draft, 

" Here Hs last flight the haughty eagle flew, 
Then tore, with Woody heak, the fatal plain." 



Byron. 



The verses were read hy an artist, 
Mr. R R. Reinagle, a friend of 
Major Gordon's, on a visit to Brus- 
sels, shortly after they were written, 
whereupon he drew a chained eagle 
grasping the earth with his talons. 
" I had occasion," says Major Gor- 
don, " to write to his Lordship, and 
mentioned having got this clever 
artist to draw a vignette to his beau- 
* Then tore with bloody 



tiful lines, and the liberty he had 
taken by altering the action of the 
eagle.. In reply to this, he wrote to 
me : — ' Reinagle is a better poet and 
a better ornithologist than I am ; 
eagles, and all birds of prey, attack 
with their talons, and not with their 
beaks, and I have altered the line 
thus : — 

talon the rent plain. 



This is, I think,' continued Byron, 
' a better line, besides its poetical 
justice.'" And Major Gordon ob- 
serves, " I need hardly add, when I 
communicated this flattering compli- 
ment to the painter, that he was 
highly gratified." = Byron's writing 
this passage on the day of his visit 

E 



to the field of Waterloo bears out a 
statement concerning his methods of 
composition afterwards recorded in 
Tom Moore's Dmry (July 3, 1821). 
It was at a dinner at Holland House, 
when the practice of authors in ob- 
servation and description came under 
discussion, and Lord Holland re- 
E 2 



420 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Byron. " Fit retribution ! Graul may champ the bit 

And foam in fetters ; — but is earth more free ? 
Did nations combat to make One submit ; 
Or league to teach all kings true sovereignty ? 
What ! shall reviving thraldom again be 
The patch'd-up idol of enlighten'd days ? 
Shall we, who struck the lion down, shall we 
Pay the wolf homage ? proffering lowly gaze 
And servile knees to thrones ? No ; prove before ye praise ! 

" If not, o'er one fallen despot boast no more ! 
In vain fair cheeks were furrow'd with hot tears 
For Europe's flowers long rooted up before 
The trampler of her vineyards ; in vain years 
Of death, depopulation, bondage, fears. 
Have all been borne, and broken by the accord 
Of roused-up millions ; all that most endears 
Glory, is when the myrtle wreathes the sword, 

Such as Harmodius drew on Athens' tyrant lord." 

The third canto of Childe Harold^ as has been said, 
was completed in Switzerland. Of its general tone Sir 
Walter Scott, in allusion to the author's domestic griefs, 
wrote, " The commentary through which the meaning 
of this melancholy tale is rendered obvious is still in 
vivid remembrance ; for the errors of those who excel 
their fellows in gifts and accomplishments are not soon 
forgotten." Moore, recording Byron's history at this 

marked, " ' Mad.de Stael never looked tlie character of improvisation wliicli 

at anything ; passed by scenery of belongs to the poetry of Byron that 

every kind without a glance at it ; he could write only on the very 

which did not, however, prevent her spot ; or at least that he must receive 

describing it. ' I [Moore] said that on the spot inspiration for his poetry 

Lord Byron could not describe any- ■ — and then, almost immediately, 

thing Avhich he had not actually fervente calamo, commit it to paper, 

under his eyes, and that he did it ... All his poems were written, 

either on the spot or immediately when the fit of inspiration was upon 

after." Karl Elze, in his Life of him, with the utmost rapidity, and 

Byron, makes a similar observation as it were at one cast," 
— " It is intimately connected with 



WATERLOO POETRY. 42 1 

time, said, " The effect of the late struggle on his mind, Byron. 
in stirring up all his resources and energies, was visible 
in the great activity of his genius during the whole of 
this period, and the rich variety, both in character and 
colouring, of the works with which it teemed. Besides 
the third canto of Childe Harold, and The Prisoner of 
Chillon, he produced also his two poems, Darkness and 
The Dream. . . Those verses, too, entitled The Incanta- 
tion, which he introduced afterwards, without any con- 
nection with the subject, into Manfred, were also (at 
least the less bitter portion of them) the production of 
this period ; and as they were written soon after the 
last fruitless attempt at reconcihation, it is needless to 
say who was in his thoughts while he penned some of 
the opening stanzas." Byron himself wrote from Venice 
to Murray, his publisher — on January 24, 181 7, before 
the published work had reached him, — " Mrs. Leigh [his 
sister] tells me that most of her friends prefer the first 
two cantos. I do not know whether this be the general 
opinion or not (it is not hers) ; but it is natural it should 
be so. I, however, think differently, which is natural 
also ; but who is right, or who is wrong, is of very little 
consequence." Soon after this — on January 28 — he 
wrote to Moore, " I tremble for the ' magnificence ' 
which you attribute to the new Childe Harold. I am 
glad you Hke it ; it is a fine indistinct piece of poetical 
desolation, and my favourite. I was half mad during 
the time of its composition, between metaphysics, moun- 
tains, lakes, love inextinguishable, thoughts unutterable, 
and the nightmare of my own delinquencies. I should, 
many a good day, have blown my brains out, but for 
the recollection that it would have given pleasure to 
my mother-in-law ; and, even the7i, if I could have been 
certain to haunt her. But I won't dwell upon these 
trifling family matters." 



42 2 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Byron. Froiii tliG accouiits wliicli liavG thus been given of 

the genesis of tliis canto, it would scarcely have occurred 
to either its writer or his readers that its inspiration 
was derived from Wordsworth. Such, however, was 
the modest judgment of the Lake poet. It was in the 
autumn of 1820 that the latter visited Paris, where Tom 
Moore met him at a dinner given by Canning, and im- 
mediately set him down, in his Diary, as " a man to 
hold forth, one who does not understand the give and 
tahe of conversation." Two days later (October 27, 
1820) Moore made this entry in his Diary : 

" Wordsworth came at half-past eight, and stopped to 
breakfast. Talked a good deal. Spoke of Byron's plagiarisms 
from him ; the whole third canto of Childe Harold founded on 
his style and sentiments. The feeling of natm^al objects which 
is there expressed, not caught by B. from nature herself, but 
from him (Wordsworth), and spoiled in the transmission. 
Tintern Abbey the source of it all ; from which same poem too 
the celebrated passage about Solitude, in the first canto of 
Childe Harold, is (he said) taken, with this difference, that 
what is naturally expressed by him, has been worked by Byron 
into a labom^ed and antithetical sort of declamation." 

Upon which Lord John Eussell, as Moore's editor, 
observes in a note, " There is some resemblance between 
Tintern Abbey and Childe Harold ; but, as Voltaire said 
of Homer and Yirgil, ' When they tell me " Homer made 
Virgil," I answer, " Then it is his best work," ' so of 
Wordsworth it may be said, ' If he wrote the third 
canto of Childe Harold, it is his best work.' " ^ 

^ Moore — who in latex* years de- talked of Wordswortli's exceedingly 
vised for Wordsworth's express he- high opinion of himself; and she 
nefit the adjective " soliloquacious " mentioned that one day, in a large 
{Diary, Feh. 20, 1835) — gives this party, Wordsworth, without any- 
incident from the same visit to Paris, thing having been previously said 
related to him by Lady Davy, the that could lead to the subject, called 
wife of Sir Humphry Davy : — " We out suddenly from the top of the 



WATEKLOO POETRY. 



42: 



After the Battle of Waterloo and the restoration of 
peace English tourists flocked to the Continent, and 
among them Walter (not yet Sir Walter) Scott. Im- 
mediately on receiving news of the victory, a friend of 
his, the eminent surgeon Sir Charles Bell, had repaired 
to Brussels to lend his aid to the wounded ; and had 
written to his brother in Edinburgh an account of 
scenes consequent upon the battle so graphic that, 
" When I read it," said Scott, " it set me on fire." A 
wedding, which Scott could not neglect attending, on 
July 24, 18 1 5, prevented his instant departure ; but on 
July i"]^ with a small party of friends, he set out from 
Edinburgh, and reached Belgium in the beginning of 
August. At Brussels he found the remnant of the 
British garrison, and also his old acquaintance, Major 



Scott. 



table to the bottom, in his most 
epic tone, ' Davy ! ' and, on Davy's 
putting forth his head in awful ex- 
pectation of what was coming, said, 
' Do you know the reason why I 
published the White Doe in quarto ? ' 
' No, what was it ? ' 'To show the 
world my own opinion of it.' " Long 
after this (August 8, 1837), Moore 
met Wordsworth at a dinner at 
Rogers', in London ; and, " On my 
mentioning that I had met with a 
young man at a cafe in Paris who 
had seen him (Wordsworth) in 
Italy, he asked me who he was ; and 
on my answering that I did not 
know his name, the sublime Laker 
replied, 'Oh, Virgilium tantum 
vidi,' but immediately conscious of 
the assumption of the speech, turned 
it off with a laugh." Oarlyle had a 
similar experience of Wordsworth, 
and set down his impression, which 
is embodied in the Reminiscences, 
published by Mr. Froude after Oar- 



lyle's death, in 188 1. The conver- 
sation occurred at a London dinner 
party in 1 840 : — " I got him upon 
the subject of great poets, who I 
thought might be admirable equally 
to us both ; but was rather mistaken, 
as I gradually found. Pope's par- 
tial failure I was prepared for ; less 
for the narrowish limits visible in 
Milton and others. I tried him 
with Burns, of whom he had sung 
tender recognition ; but Burns also 
turned out to be a limited, inferior 
creature, any genius he had a theme 
for one's pathos rather ; even Shake- 
speare himself had his blind sides, 
his limitations ; gradually it became 
apparent to me that of transcendent 
imlimited there was, to this critic, 
probably but one specimen known — 
Wordsworth himself ! " = One need 
not necessarily revise his admiration 
for Childe Harold because of Words- 
worth's faith in the superior poetical 
methods pursued in Tintern Abbey, 



424 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Scott. Pryce Gordon, already quoted, who wrote of this 
visit : — 

" Sir Walter Scott accepted my services to conduct him to 
Waterloo : the Greneral's aide-de-camp was also of the party. 
He made no secret of his having undertaken to write some- 
thing on the battle ; and perhaps he took the greater interest 
on this account in everything that he saw. ... In our rounds 
we fell in with M. de Costar, with whom he got into conversa- 
tion. This man had attracted so much notice by his pretended 
story of being about the person of Napoleon that he was of too 
much importance to be passed by : I did not, indeed, know 
as much of this fellow's charlatanism at that time as after- 
wards, when I saw him confronted with a blacksmith of La 
Belle Alliance, who had been his companion in a hiding-place 
ten miles from the place during the whole day, a fact which he 
could not deny. But he had got up a tale so plausible and so 
profitable, that he could afford to bestow hush-money on the 
companion of his flight, so that the imposition was but little 
known ; and strangers continued to be gulled." 

That Scott, like many others who wrote the first and 
enduring descriptions of Waterloo, was thoroughly 
taken in by this impostor is shown by the letter which 
he wrote at the time to the Duke of Buccleuch, — " I 
spoke long with a shrewd Flemish peasant, called John 
de Costar, whom he [Napoleon] had seized upon as his 
guide, and who remained beside him the whole day, 
and afterwards accompanied him in his flight as far as 
Charleroi."^ After this visit Scott moved, deliberately, 
towards Paris, where he was received with marked 
cordiality by the magnates there assembled — Lords Wel- 
lington, Cathcart, Castlereagh, and Aberdeen, the Em- 
peror Alexander, PlatofT, Bllicher, and others. Thence 
he returned to London, where, on September 14, he 
had his last meeting with Lord Byron, at which the 

* For tlie full extent of Scott's deception by Costar's — or Lacoste's — 
pretensions, see note 145, p. 232. 



WATEELOO POETRY. 425 

latter seemed much out of sorts, because, as Charles Scott. 
Mathews, who was present, suggests, " Waterloo did 
not dehght him, jDrobably — and Scott could talk or 
think of scarcely anything else." From London he 
returned home, and wrote to his friend Morritt, on 
October 2, " Yesterday and to-day I began, from 
necessity, to prune verses, and have been correcting 
proofs of my little attempt at a poem on Waterloo. It 
will be out this week." It was, accordingly, quickly 
published, and the author contributed the profits of 
its first edition to the fund for the relief of the widows 
and children of those who fell in the battle. It was 
dedicated " To her Grace the Duchess of Wellington, 
Princess of Waterloo, etc., etc., etc.,'' and was preceded by 
this 

" Advertisement. — It may be some apology for the imper- 
fections of this poem, that it was composed hastily, and during 
a short tour upon the Continent, where the author's labours 
were liable to frequent interruptions ; but its best apology is 
that it was written for the purpose of assisting the Waterloo 
subscription." 

The apology, no doubt, is adequate ; but the merit of 
the poem is not such that Scott's admirers need desire 
any addition to the extracts already made in the notes 
appended to the narrative of the battle. Indeed, as a 
whole, the production justified a mot which was current 
at the time, — that " Scott fell in The Field of Waterloo " 
— a sentiment which Lord Erskine embodied in the 
couplet — 

" Of all who fell, by sabre or by shot, 
Not one fell half so flat as Walter Scott." 

For The Dance of Death, which he contributed to the 
Edinburgh Annual Register for 181 5, there is less justi- 
fication and no room whatever for praise. It is rather 



426 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Scott. a travesty than a meclianical perpetuation of the man- 
ner of Marmion, and appears to have been a perfunctory 
production, hastily and carelessly struck off as a piece 
of literary job-work. A specimen of it has been quoted 
on page 142. 

Among the further products of Scott's continental 
tour were several translations from the French, which 
appeared in PauTs Letter's and the Edinburgh Annual 
Register. To one of these, which he calls The Bomance 
of Dunois, is prefixed this explanation : — 

" The original of this little romance makes part of a manu- 
script collection of French songs, probably compiled by some 
young officer, which was found on the Field of Waterloo, so 
much stained with clay and with blood as sufficiently to indi- 
cate what had been the fate of its late owner. The song is 
popular in France, and is rather a good specimen of the style of 
composition to which it belongs. The translation is strictly 
literal." 



Queen As to the latter particular, the translator greatly ffattered 
himself; for the simple easy flow and smooth rhymes 
of the French have not disappeared more completely 
than its natural unlaboured expression, for which the 
translator substituted a dilution of hackneyed and con- 
ventional poetical flummery. Scott did not know at 
the time, what he afterwards learned, that the poem 
was the work of Queen Hortense, who also set it to 
music. When her son became Napoleon III, Partant 
pour la Syrie was revived and became one of the favour- 
ite military airs of the Second Empire. These circum- 
stances and its history as above recited must be the 
justification for introducing it here, for its theme has 
no reference to Waterloo. An air was made for Scott's 
translation by G. F. Graham and contributed to Thom- 
son's Select Melodies. Queen Hortense's and Sir Walter's 
versions are as follow, the long hues of the English 



WATEELOO POETEY. 



427 



giving but half as many rhymes as the French. The Scott. 



original of the latter, both as to words and metrical Queen 
arrangement, is substituted for the mutilated rendering 



printed by Scott. 



" EOMANCE ChEVALRESQUE. 



" Partant pour la Syrie, 
Le jeune et beau Dunois 
Venait prier Marie 
De benir ses exploits. 

* Faites, reine immortelle,' 
Lui dit-il en partant, 

' Que j'aime la plus belle, 
Et sois le plus vaillant.' 

" II trace sur la pierre 
Le serment de I'honneur, 
Et va suivre a la guerre 
Le comte, son seigneur. 
Au noble voeu fidele, 
II dit, en combattant, 

' Amour a la plus belle ! 
Honneur au plus vaillant ! ' 



" ' Je te dois la victoire, 
Dunois,' dit le seigneur. 
' Puisque tu fais ma gloire, 
Je ferai ton bonheur. 
De ma fille Isabelle 
Sois I'epoux a I'instant, 
Car elle est la plus belle, 
Et toi le plus vaillant.' 

" A I'autel de Marie, 
lis contractent tons deux 
Cette union cherie. 
Qui seule rend heureux. 
Chacun dans la chapelle 
Disait, en les voyant, 

' Amour a la plus belle ! 

Honneur au plus vaillant ! ' ' 



" EoMANCE OF Dunois. 

" It was Dunois, the young and brave, was bound for Palestine, 
But first he made his orizons before Saint Mary's shrine : 
' And grant, immortal Queen of Heaven,' was still the soldier's 

prayer, 
* That I may prove the bravest knight, and love the fairest fair.' 

*' His oath of honour on the shrine he graved it with his sword. 
And followed to the Holy Land the banner of his lord. 
Where, faithful to his noble vow, his war-cry filled the air — 
'Be honoured aye the bravest knight, beloved the fairest fair!' 

" They owed the conquest to his arm, and then his liege lord said, 
' The heart that has for honour beat by bliss must be repaid, — 
My daughter Isabelle and thou shall be a wedded pair. 
For thou art bravest of the brave, she fairest of the fair.' 



428 QUATEE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

Scott. " And then they bound the holy knot before St. Mary's shrine. 

Queen That makes a paradise on earth if hearts and hands combine ; 

Hortense. ^^^^ every lord and lady bright that were in chapel there 

Cried, ' Honoured be the bravest knight, beloved the fairest 
fair ! '" 

It would be almost cruel to collate these two, were it 
not for the extreme complacency of Scott's own self- 
content expressed in Paul's Letters. " I have taken 
more pains," he says, " respecting these poems than 
their intrinsic poetical merit can be supposed to deserve, 
either in the original or in the English version; but 
I cannot divest them from the interest which they 
have acquired by the place and manner in which they 
were obtained." Queen Hortense's chanson, it is true, 
is but a trifle, yet a pretty and graceful trifle, in which 
there is not a single redundancy of expression, a wasted 
word, or a phrase that could be bettered. But the 
comparison which Scott solicits with his " strictly 
literal" translation discloses these achievements — (i) he 
is grossly ungrammatical in the ist line of his ist 
stanza, in the ist and 3d of the 2d stanza, and in the 
3d of the 4th stanza ; (2) his " and " and " still " in the 
3d line ist stanza are inconsequent and silly; (3) he 
imports, without any suggestion from the original, such 
base bits of poetical slang as " bravest of the brave," 
" fairest fair," " wedded pair," " bound the holy knot," 
" his war-cry filled the air," " owed the conquest to his 
arm," " made his orizons ; " (4) he constantly expands a 
terse phrase into a platitude : e.g. in every recurrence 
of the refrain, or where " cette unio7i cherie qui seule rend 
heureux " is flattened out into " the holy knot . . that 
makes a paradise on earth if hearts and hands com- 
bine ;" or where ^^ chacun a la cliapelW is diluted into 
" every lord and lady bright that were \_sic] in chapel 
there;" (5) he invents, absolutely without justification, 



WATERLOO POETRY. 429 

the trashy 2d Hue of the 3d stanza. In short, this 
" strictly hteral " translation would suffice to prove, 
were it not otherwise proved, that by this time Scott as 
a poet had come to Hve upon his previously-earned 
reputation ; that, after Waverley and Guy Mannering 
had opened to him a new path, he was content to foist 
upon the public rhythmical slop shamefully unworthy 
of his powers.^ In the present instance, Queen Hor- 



Scott. 

Queen 
Hortense. 



^ Hazlitt, in his essay on Scott in 
The Spirit of the Age, congratulates 
the successful novelist on turning 
away from his threadbare poetizings. 
" The Author of Waverley" he says, 
" has got rid of the tagging of 
rhymes, the eking out of syllables, 
the supplying of epithets, the colours 
of style. . . . His poetry was a 
lady's waiting-maid, dressed out in 
cast-off finery ; his prose is a beauti- 
ful rustic nymph, that, like Dorothea 
in Don Quixote, when she is sur- 
prised with dishevelled tresses bath- 
ing her naked feet in the brook, looks 
round her abashed at the admu-ation 
her charms have excited." = Heine 
speaks of Scott as an "ex-poet " in a 
different sense from Hazlitt's criti- 
cism. At one time the German 
critic was among his warmest ad- 
mirers, and, in The No7-th Sea, in his 
Pictures of Travel (1826), said, " Of 
all great writers Byron is just the 
one whose writings excite in me the 
least passion, while Scott, on the 
contrary, in his every book, glad- 
dens, tranquillizes, and strengthens 
my heart." Even at this time he 
had misgivings about Scott's as yet 
impublished Life of Napoleon, ob- 
serving, " All those Avho honour the 
genius of Scott must tremble for 
him, for such a book may easily 
prove to be the Moscow of a reputa- 



tion which he has won with weary 
labour." The book appeared, and in 
his comments upon it in his English 
Fragments (1828), Heine says, 
" Strange ! the dead Emperor is, 
even in his grave, the bane of the 
Britons, and through him Britannia's 
greatest poet has lost his laurels ! 
— He ivas Britannia's greatest poet, 
let people say and imagine what 
they will. . . . Noiv, all this popu- 
lar wealth of the British poet is at 
an end, and he, whose change was 
so current that the Duchess and the 
cobbler's wife received it with the 
same interest, has now become a 
poor "Walter Scott. His destiny re- 
calls the legend of the mountain 
elves, who, mockingly benevolent, 
gave money to poor people which 
was bright and profitable so long as 
they spent it wisely, but which 
turned to mere dust when appHed to 
unworthy purposes. Sack by sack 
we opened Walter Scott's new load 
— and lo ! instead of gleaming smil- 
ing pence, there was nothing but idle 
dust, and dust again ! He was 
justly punished by those mountain 
elves of Parnassus, the Muses, who, 
like all noble-minded women, are 
enthusiastic Napoleonists, and who 
were consequently doubly enraged 
at the misuse of the spirit-treasure 
which had been loaned. , . . The 



430 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Scott, tense's little verses can endure tlie closest scrutiny 
Queen witliout clisclosinsj a flaw — Sir Walter's, if unsie^ned, 

JEIortGiiS6» 

would go into the waste-basket of a village newspaper. 
One may even imagine that Scott's " traduction," as the 
French would call it, of Queen Hortense's chanson was 
what Thackeray had in mind when he " improved " 
Wapping Old Stairs into The Knightly Guerdon. 

The propensity to slight his literary work which 
is manifested in all his Waterloo poetry brings into 
view an unpleasant side of Scott's character. It was 
thrown into a strong light by the publication of Lord 
Macaulay's Life and Letters, which contain a letter to 
Macvey Napier (June 26, 1838) declining an invitation 
to write a review of Lockhart's Life of Scott. Macaulay 
said — 

" I have not, from the little I do know of him [Scott], 
formed so high an opinion of his character as most people seem 
to entertain, and as it would be expedient for the Edinburgh 
Review to express. ... In politics a bitter and unscrupulous 
partisan ; profuse and ostentatious in expense ; agitated by the 
hopes and fears of a gambler ; perpetually sacrificing the per- 
fection of his compositions, and the durability of his fame, to 
his eagerness for money ; writing with the slovenly haste of 
Dryden, in order to satisfy wants which were not, like those of 
Dryden, caused by circumstances beyond his control, but which 
were produced by his extravagant waste or rapacious specula- 
tion — this is the way in which he appears to me. I am sorry 
for it, for I sincerely admire the greater part of his works ; but 
I cannot think him a high-minded man, or a man of very strict 

English have merely murdered the King, who had confided himself to 
Emperor — but Walter Scott sold their protection, for the sum of four 
him. It was a real Scotch trick, a hundred thousand pounds sterling, 
regular specimen of Scottish national That King was the same Charles 
manners, and we see that Scotch Stuart whom the bards of Caledonia 
avarice is still the same old dirty now sing so gloriously — the English- 
spirit as ever, and has not changed man murders, but the Scotchman 
much since the days of Naseby, sells and sings." 
when the Scotch sold their own 



WATEBLOO POETRY. 43 1 

principle. Now, these are opinions which, however softened, it scott. 
would be highly unpopular to publish, particularly in a Scotch 
review." 

How thoroughly unpopular they were among Scott's 
admirers — and his admirers would be as numerous as 
his readers had he but written less — was shown by the 
indignation elicited when, years after Macaulay's death, 
this letter was made pubhc. The Pall Mall Gazette^-— 
speaking moderately, and claiming that Macaulay's 
objections to Scott " show how little he understood 
him," — gave this defence : — " Alas ! he little knew how 
slightly Scott valued either the durability of his fame 
or the perfection of his compositions. To be Scott of 
Abbotsford was more in his eyes than to be the author 
of a dozen Waverleys. . . It was for the sake of realizing 
this position . . that Scott was so eager to add fame to 
fame and thousands of pounds to thousands." It was 
just after Macaulay's Zz/e had produced this and similar 
explanations that Miss Harriet Martineau's Autobio- 
graphy was published (1877), containing a suggestion 
as to the genuineness of the Abbotsford sentiment. 
Under date of 1838 — the year of Macaulay's letter, — 
she wrote of a tour in Scotland — 

" We saw Abbotsford and Dryburgh under great advantages 
of weather ; but my surprise at the smallness and toy-character 
of Abbotsford was extreme. It was impossible but that both 
Scott and Lockhart must know what a good Scotch house is ; 
and their glorification of this place shakes one's faith in their 
other descriptions." 

The truth seems to be that the very imaginative faculty 
which gives charm to the great romancer's pages was 
linked with a propensity to feudalistic make-believe 
that led him to do things which showed, as Macaulay put 
it, a want of high-mindedness. That he dearly loved a 



432 QUATRE BE AS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Scott, lord no reader of his poems or novels need be told ; but 
tliat he should abase hhnself to win the smiles of exalted 
rank is very unpleasant to hear. Yet this unpleasant 
thing is intimated rather than clearly shown in Mr. 
Eichard H. Button's volume on Sir Walter Scott, and is 
to be traced out in Lockhart's Life. 

It was in April, 1 806, that he was admitted to the 
acquaintance of the Princess of Wales — afterwards 
Queen Caroline, of unsavoury celebrity,^ — and wrote 
thus of it to his friend George Ellis : — " I had also the 
honour of dining with a fair friend of yours at Black- 
heath, an honour which I shall very long remember. 
She is an enchanting princess, who dwells in an en- 
chanted palace, and I cannot help thinking that her prince 
must labour under some malignant spell when he denies 
himself her society." Eemembering the "honour,"^ 
as he had promised, Scott took occasion to appear 
publicly as the champion of the Princess — whose con- 
jugal difficulties were already a pubhc scandal and a 
theme for much tall talk — by writing a song which 
James Ballantyne sang at a dinner given at Edinburgh, 
June 27, 1806, in honour of Lord Melville, in which he 
introduced this stanza — 

" Our King, too— our Princess — I dare not say more, sir, — 
May Providence watch them with mercy and might ! 
While there's one Scottish hand that can wag a claymore, sir, 
They shall ne'er want a friend to stand up for their right. 
Be damn'd he that dare not — 
For my part I'll spare not 
To beauty afflicted a tribute to give : 
Fill it up steadily. 
Drink it off readily, — 
Here's to the Princess, and long may she live ! " 

^ For another illustration of Scott's puzzling ideas of honour, see note 
249, p. 382. 



WATEELOO POETEY. 433 

Soon after, Scott found another opportunity of pro- Scott. 
claiming himself the admirer, not only of the Princess, 
but of all that belonged to her, by forcing into the 
hitrodudion to Canto III of Marmion a tribute to her 
father, the Duke of Brunswick — a man personally as 
bad as the other bad men and women of his race, — who 
had fallen at Jena. This he communicated to the Prin- 
cess in February, 1807, before the publication of the 
poem — " a tribute so grateful to her feelings," says 
Lockhart, " that she herself shortly after sent the poet 
an elegant silver vase as a memorial of her thankful- 
ness." But when the next Duke of Brunswick, her 
brother, fell at Quatre Bras, Scott excluded him from 
the necrological list that swells the Field of Waterloo. 
He had meantime been honoured with the recognition 
of the Prince Kegent, who, in 1813, had offered him the 
laureateship. Scott had allowed this to go to Southey, 
but had eagerly grasped at the friendship of what he 
considered a superior quahty of royalty to that of the 
proscribed Princess, who thenceforth, so far as Scott 
was concerned and in spite of his song, did " want a 
friend to stand up for her right ; " and a dinner given 
him by the Eegent in March, 1815, quite effaced the 
recollection of the Princess's entertainment which he had 
intended to " very long remember." The Prince called 
him " Walter," Lockhart tells us, " as was his custom 
with those he most delighted to houour," and " sent him 
a gold snuff-box, set in brilliants, with a medallion of 
his Eoyal Highness' head on the lid, ' as a testimony ' 
(writes Mr. Adam, in transmitting it) 'of the hio-h 
opinion his Eoyal Highness entertains of your genius 
and merit.' " The conquest was complete. Scott 
thenceforth joined the chorus of the courtiers in revil- 
ing the Princess whose hospitalities and gifts he had 

F F 



434 QUATRE BEAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Scott, received as an " honour." '^ He told James Ballantyne 
that the Eegent was " the first gentleman lie had seen — 
certainly the first English gentleman of his day ; — there 
was something about him which, independently of the 
prestige, the ' divinity ' which hedges a King, marked 
him as standing entirely by himself." At a later day he 
wrote in his journal : — 

" He converses himself with so much ease and elegance that 
you lose thoughts of the Prince in admiring the well-bred and 
accomplished gentleman. He is in many respects the model of 
a British ^lonarch — has little inclination to try experiments on 
government otherwise than through his Ministers — sincerely, I 
believe, desires the good of his subjects — is kind towards the 
distressed, and moves and speaks ' every inch a King.' " 

Scott was not spared to read the Book of Sfiobs. In 
that work Thackeray defines that " He who meanly 
admires mean things is a Snob," and in his illustration 
he depicts " the great and lamented Gorgius IV, . . . 
the first gentleman in Europe." He proceeds : — 

" What is it to be a gentleman ? Is it to be honest, to be 
gentle, to be generous, to be brave, to be wise, and, possessing 
all these qualities, to exercise them in the most graceful outward 
manner ? Ought a gentleman to be a loyal son, a true hus- 
band, and honest father ? Ought his life to be decent — his 
bills to be paid — his tastes to be high and elegant — his aims in 

^ One extract from a letter from a most decided desire to be revenged 

Scott to his brother Thomas (July of Azm, which, by the way, can scarce 

23, 1 820), which is printed by Lock- be wondered at. If she had as 

hart, shows his recreancy to his ori- many followers of high as of low 

ginal patron in a very contemptible degree (in proportion), and funds to 

light. " The Queen," he wrote, "is equip them, I should not be sur- 

making an awful bustle, and though prised to see her fat bottom in a 

by all accounts her conduct has pair of buckskins, and at the head of 

been most abandoned and beastly, an army — God mend us all. The 

she has got the whole mob for her things said of her are beyond all 

partisans, who call her injured inno- usual profligacy. Nobody of any 

cence and what not. She has cour- fashion visits her." 
age enough to dare the worst, and 



WATERLOO POETRY. 435 

life lofty and noble ? In a word, ought not the Biography of a Scott. 
First Gentleman in Europe to be of such a nature that it might 
be read in Young Ladies' Schools with advantage, and studied 
with profit in the Seminaries of Young Gentlemen ? I put this 
question to all instructors of youth — to Mrs. Ellis and the 
Women of England ; to all schoolmasters from Doctor Hawtrey 
down to Mr. Squeers. I conjure up before me an awful tribu- 
nal of youth and innocence, attended by its venerable instruc- 
tors (like the ten thousand red-cheeked charity children in 
Saint Paul's), sitting in judgment, and Gorgius pleading his 
cause in the midst. Out of Court, out of Court, fat old 
Florizel ! Beadles, turn out that bloated, pimple-faced man ! 
If Gorgius onust have a statue in the new Palace which the 
Brentford nation is building, it ought to be set up in the 
Flunkeys' Hall. He should be represented cutting out a 
coat, in which art he is said to have excelled. He also 
invented Maraschino punch, a shoe-buckle (this was in the 
vigour of his youth and the prime force of his invention), and a 
Chinese pavilion, the most hideous building in the world. He 
could drive a four-in-hand very nearly as well as the Brighton 
coachman, could fence elegantly, and, it is said, play the fiddle 
well. And he smiled with such irresistible fascination, that 
persons who were introduced into his august presence became 
his victims, body and soul, as a rabbit becomes the prey of 
a great big boa-constrictor. 

" I would wager that if Mr. Widdicomb were, by a revolu- 
tion, placed on the throne of Brentford, people would be 
equally fascinated by his irresistibly majestic smile, and tremble 
as they knelt down to kiss his hand. If he went to Dublin they 
would erect an obelisk on the spot where he first landed, as the 
Paddylanders did when Gorgius visited them. We have all 
of us read with delight that story of the King's voyage to Hag- 
gisland, where his presence inspired such a fury of loyalty ; and 
where the most famous man of the country — the Baron of 
Bradwardine — coming on board the royal yacht, and finding a 
glass out of which Gorgius had drunk, put it into his coat 
pocket as an inestimable relic, and went ashore in his boat 
again. But the Baron sat down upon the glass and broke 
it, and cut his coat-tails very muchj and the inestimable relic 

F F 2 



436 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 

Scott, was lost to the world for ever. noble Bradwardine ! what old- 
world superstition could set you on your knees before such an 
idol as that ? 

" If you want to moralize upon the immutability of human 
affairs, go and see the figure of Grorgius in his real, identical 
robes, at the wax-works. — Admittance one shilling. Children 
and flunkeys sixpence. Gro, and pay sixpence." 

Mr, Hutton's book on Scott shows traces of his 
having been to some degree infected by Thackeray's 
indignation ; but his conclusion is much milder. He 
tells of Scott's pleasure at receiving the first baronetcy 
of George IV's creation, " directly derived from the 
source of honour," as Scott wrote, " and neither begged 
nor bought, as is the usual fashion ; " how, on the day 
Erskine, his most intimate friend, died, " Scott went on 
board the royal yacht, was most graciously received by 
George, had his health drunk by the King in a bottle 
of Highland whiskey, and with a proper show of devoted 
loyalty entreated to be allowed to retain the glass out 
of which his Majesty had just drunk his health," and 
how the glass was satisfactorily sat upon and squelched; 
and how Scott affected George's politics, " and as he 
grew more conservative Scott grew more conservative 
hkewise, till he came to think this particular King 
almost a pillar of the Constitution," Upon all of which 
this is Mr, Hutton's judgment — 

" The whole relation to Greorge was a grotesque thread 
in Scott's life ; and I cannot quite forgive him for the utterly 
conventional severity with which he threw over his first patron, 
the Queen, for sins which were certainly not grosser, if they 
were not much less gross, than those of his second patron, the 
husband who had set her the example which she faithfully, 
though at a distance, followed." ^ 

* Mr, Hutton's closing refer- tliat she " never committed adultery 

ence to tlie Queen is only a softened but once, and that was with Mrs. 

rendering- of an epigrammatic saying Fitzherhert's liustand," 
of her own at the time of her trial — 



WATEELOO POETBY. 437 

How an ordinary author would have acted, circum- Scott . 
stanced as Scott was, is a thing into which it would 
scarcely be worth his readers' while to inquire. But 
Scott holds a very exceptional position as one whom his 
readers desire to regard as a good man as well as a 
gifted one, and to feel able to beheve in. That his 
craving to become Scott of Abbotsford, a landed pro- 
prietor, and a sort of feudal chieftain, should lead him 
to palm off adulterated literary products upon a pubhc 
which had been most generous with him — this might 
possibly be overlooked. His conviction that British 
royalty, even of the Hanover and Brunswick quality, 
was nobler than that of the Corsican upstart, might be 
set down to his surroundings and a perverted patriotism. 
But when we find him adoring the guinea's stamp and 
careless whether it covered gold or clay, when he exults 
in ingratiating himself with one of the most unspeakable 
blackguards that ever filled a throne instead of a prison, 
and glorifies this wretch as " every inch a King " — then 
it seems as if Thackeray dealt lightly in charging him 
merely with flunkeyism.^ 

^ In extenuation of Scott's rap- grown disgusted with the fulsome 
tures on the occasion of George TV's ' loyalty ' of all classes in Edinburgh 
Edinburgh visit, it might be pleaded towards the approachuig George 
that no man should be tried by Fourth visit, whom, though called 
other standards than those of his and reckoned a ' king,' I in my 
own day and generation, and that he private radicalism of mind could 
merely shared a universal enthu- consider only as a — what shall I 
siasm. To this view may be opposed call him ? And loyalty was not 
the impression which the transaction the feeling I had towards any part 
made upon another and a greater of the phenomenon. At length read- 
man then residing in Edinbiu'gh. ing one day in a public placard 
Carlyle, as he records in his post- from the magistrates (of which 
hiunously published Beininiscences there had been several) that on his 
(of Edward Ii'ving), had at this time Majesty's advent it was expected 
invited two friends to make their that everybody would be care- 
home in his modest chambers, which fully well-di-essed, ' black coat and 
they did at the time of the Royal white duck trousers,' if at aU conve- 
visit,— " I myself not there, I had nient, I grumbled to myself, ' Scan- 



43S QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Sou«iey. South ey followed Scott in visiting Waterloo, and, 

of course, he improved the occasion by producing one 
of the ponderous things which he considered poems. 
His examination of the field was not made until Scott's 
Field of Waterloo was about issuing from the press, since 
it was on October 2 that he sent home an account of 
it. Two months later he was working at the resultant 
poem, for, on December 15, he wrote from Keswick to 
his friend C. W. W. Wynn, " The laureateship itself 
with me is no sinecure. I am at work in consequence 
of it at this time. Do not suppose that I mean to rival 
Walter Scott. My poem will be in a very different 
strain." To Scott himself Southey wrote (March 17, 
1816), "How I should have rejoiced if we had met at 
Waterloo ! This feeling I had and expressed upon the 
ground. You have pictured it with your characteristic 
force and animation. My poem will reach you in a few 
weeks : it is so different in its kind that, however kindly 
malice may be disposed, it will not be possible to insti- 
tute a comparison with yours. J take a different point 
of time and a wider range, leaving the battle untouched, 
and describing the field only such as it was when I 
surveyed it." In April or May, 1816, appeared this 
lucubration, entitled The Poet's Pilgrimage to Waterloo. 
It was furnished with a " proem," and divided into two 
" parts," of which the first " describes a journey to the 
scene of war," while " the second is in an allegorical 
form," and " exposes the gross material philosophy 
which has been the guiding principle of the French 
politicians from Mirabeau to Bonaparte;" and the 
"proem" and "parts" jointly contain 363 stanzas of 

dalous fluiikeys ! I, if I were cliang- the city altogether, and be absent 

ing my dress at all, should incline and silent in such efflorescence of the 

rather to be in white coat and black flunkeyisms, which I was." 
trousers ; ' but resolved rather to quit 



WATEELOO POETEY. 439 

2,178 lines, not one of which on its own account merits Southey. 
transcription. One stanza, however, so fully embodies 
the Jack-Horner-Hke sentiment then prevalent in Eng- 
land as to require quotation for a special purpose : — 

" On Waterloo 

The tyrant's fortune in the scale was weigh'd — 

His fortune and the World's, — and England threw 
Her sword into the balance — down it sway'd : 

And when in battle first he met that foe 

There he received his mortal overthrow." 

This stanza owes its exceptional interest to a passage in 
Archbishop Whately's Historic Doubts relative to Najjo- 
leon Buonaparte. The learned author quotes thus from 
Hume's Essay on Miracles : — ^" The wise lend a very 
academic faith to every report which favours the passion 
of the reporter, whether it magnifies his country, his 
family, or himself." This argument is carried on by 
Dr. Whately in the following terms : — 

" Buonaparte prevailed over all the hostile States in turn, 
except England ; in the zenith of his power his fleets were 
swept from the sea, by England; his troops always defeat 
an equal, and frequently even a superior number of those 
of any other nation, except the English; and with them it 
is just the reverse ; twice, and twice only, he is personally en- 
gaged against an English commander, and both times he is 
totally defeated — at Acre, and at Waterloo ; and to crown all, 
England finally crushes this tremendous power, which has so 
long kept the Continent in subjection or in alarm; and to the 
English he surrenders himself prisoner ! Thoroughly national, 
to be sure ! It may be all very true ; but I will only ask, if a 
story had been fabricated for the express purpose of amusing 
the English nation, could it have been contrived more ingeni- 
ouslj'' ? " 

Thackeray has a special tribute to Southey, which 
may be severed for the moment from the remainder of 



440 QUATEE BKAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Soiithey. The Chvonicle of the Drum, because of its applicability 
here — 

" Take Doctor Southey from the shelf, 
An LL.D., a peaceful man ; 
Groocl Lord, how cloth he plume himself 
Because we beat the Corsican ! " 

contem- Altogether, Jeffrey gave a not unfair summary of 

poraneous , -ttt , i i • i • 

poems. contemporaneous Waterloo poems when, m his review 
of the third canto of Childe Harold, he wrote thus : — 

" There can be no more remarkable proof of the greatness 
of Lord Byron's genius than the spirit and interest he has con- 
trived to communicate to his picture of the often-drawn and 
difficult scene of the breaking up from Brussels before the 
great battle. It is a trite remark, that poets generally fail 
in the representation of great events where the interest is 
recent, and the particulars are consequently clearly and com- 
monly known : and the reason is obvious : For as it is the 
object of poetry to make us feel for distant or imaginary occur- 
rences nearly as strongly as if they were present and real, it is 
plain that there is no scope for her enchainments, where the 
impressive reality, with all its vast preponderance of interest, is 
already before us, and where the concern we take in the 
Gazette far outgoes any emotion that can be conjured up in us 
by the help of fine descriptions. It is natural, however, for 
the sensitive tribe of poets to mistake the common interest 
which they then share with the unpoetical part of their country- 
men, for a vocation to versify ; and so they proceed to pour out 
the lukewarm distillations of their phantasies upon the un- 
checked effervescence of public feeling ! All our bards, ac- 
cordingly, great and small, and of all sexes, ages, and conditions, 
from Scott and Southey down to the hundreds without names 
or additions, have adventured upon this theme — and failed in 
the management of it ! And while they yielded to the patriotic 
impulse, as if they had all caught the inspiring summons — 

Let those rhyme now who never rhym'd before 

And those who always rhyme, now rhyme the more,— 



"WATERLOO POETRY. 44 1 

the result has been, that scarcely a line to be remembered has Contem- 
been produced on a subject which probably was thought, of pog^^g^"*^^ 

itself, a secure passport to immortality. It required some 

courage to venture on a theme beset with so many dangers, 
and deformed with the wrecks of so many former adventurers ; 
— and a theme, too, which, in its general conception, appeared 
alien to the general tone of Lord Byron's poetry." 

Jeffrey's wholesale censure of the bards who did 
those things which they ought not to have done might 
fitly have been supplemented by an approving word for 
those who left them undone. In that case, he must 
have had commendation for his former antagonist, Tom 
Moore, who was conspicuous by his absence from the 
Waterloo choir, in defiance of importunities to lend it 
his voice. Two of Moore's most constant literary ad- 
visers were Lady Donegal and her sister, Mary Godfrey. 
The latter wrote to him, soon after the publication of • 
The Field of Waterloo (November 6, 181 5), "Walter 
Scott's Waterloo is not the Duke of Wellington's Water- 
loo. It is by all accounts a very poor performance. I 
have not seen it yet, nor am I very impatient about it, 
as I have read the Gazette of that grand battle, in which 
it is better described, and just as poetically, as I am 
told. Money, however, is his object ; and besides what 
he makes by this poem, he is to pubhsh his Travels to 
the Netherlands [that is, Paul's Letters'], the price agreed 
on, before he set out, 500/." Moore said, in his answer 
(Dec. 6, 18 15), "I have read Walter-\oo since I heard 
from you. The battle murdered many, and he has 
murdered the battle : 'tis sad stuff — Hougomont rhyming 
to ' long,' ' strong,' etc. He must have learned his pro- 
nunciation of French from Solomon Grundy in the play 
• — ' Commong dong, as they say in Dunkirk.' " Lady 
Donegal next took up the subject, writing, "You really 
would confer a lasting obligation on me, and as lasting 



442 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Contem- lionour Oil yourself, if you would comply with my 
poems!""^ request, which is that you will sit down and write, with- 
out further loss of time, the Battle of Waterloo. Do not 
let that pitiful, wretched performance of Scott's remain 
the only tribute that genius has paid to such glorious 
deeds. ... I am sure you would make it the most 
beautiful thing in the language, and it would cost you 
but very httle time or trouble. . . . Let the Irish bard 
record the deeds of the Irish hero." Miss Godfrey 
again followed up her sister's appeal, saying, " Bab 
[Lady Donegal], who is the most heroic and loyal of 
women, wants you to celebrate Waterloo, the Duke of 
Welhngton, ditto of York, etc., etc. As to Walter 
Scott, he ought to be shot upon the field of battle as a 
peace offering to the manes of the illustrious dead whose 
deeds he has so ill recorded. Charity, that covers a 
multitude of sins, and does many other kind and good 
acts, certainly does not produce good poems. Waterloo 
was written for the benefit of the subscription for the 
soldiers, as Don Roderick was for the Portuguese ; they 
are both the worst things he has written, and not half 
so much to the purpose as a charity sermon." But 
Moore — whether because his view of his own metier 
differed from his correspondents', or because his head 
and hands were filled by Lalla Rookli, which he was 
then writing — turned a deaf ear to these blandishments, 
and confined his poetizings on French topics to his 
record of the sentiments of the Fudge Family. In con- 
sideration of the frightful examples instanced by Jeffrey, 
it may be that this was one of the cases in which silence 
was golden. 

Words- Not to be comprehended among the abortive rhym- 

ings of the day was one of Wordsworth's fine sonnets. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 443 

of which the last six hnfes were " intended for an in- words- 

• ,• )) worth. 

scrip tion : — 

" Occasioned by the Battle of Waterloo. 

February, 18 16. 

" Intrepid sons of Albion ! not by you 
Is life despised ; ah no, the spacious earth 
Ne'er saw a race who held, by right of birth, 
So many objects to which love is due : 
Ye shght not life — to Grod and nature true ; 
But death, becoming death, is dearer far. 
When duty bids you bleed in open war ! 
Hence hath your prowess quelled that impious crew. 
Heroes ! for instant sacrifice prepared. 
Yet filled with ardour, and on triumph bent 
'Mid direst shocks of mortal accident. 
To you who fell, and you whom slaughter spared, 
To guard the fallen, and consummate the event, 
Your Country rears this sacred Monument ! " 

Long enough after the battle for the first enthusiasm Cambridge 
to have passed away — in 1820 — the subject given at p"^®p°^™- 
Cambridge for the competition for the Chancellor's 
Gold Medal was Waterloo. Among the competitors was 
Macaulay — who had won the prize for 18 19 by his poem 
on Pompeii, as he did that for 1821 by his poem on 
Evening, — but his effort on this occasion was unsuccess- 
ful.^^ The prize for 1820 was awarded to George Ewing g. E.Scott. 
Scott, of Trinity Hall. Several passages detail incidents 
in the battle so accurately that the temptation has been 
strong to quote them in conjunction with the narrative ; 
but the poem would have suffered by mutilation, and 
it is here given in full : — 

^° The opening lines of Macaulay's Waterloo poem have been quoted in 
note 139, page 223. 



444 QUATRE BKAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



" Waterloo. 

G.E. Scott. " From stormy skies the sun withdrew his light ; 

Terrific in her grandeur reigned the Night ; 
'Twas deepest gloom — or lightning's angry glare ; 
Voices of mighty thunder rent the air ; 
In gusts and moanings hollow raved the blast, 
And clouds poured out their fury, as they passed. 
But fiercer storms to-morrow's sun shall fright ; 
More deadly thunders usher in the night. 
The winds may howl unnoticed ; for their sound 
'Mid the deep groans of thousands shall be drowned ; 
The plain be deluged with a ghastlier flood ; 
That tempest's wrath shall fall in showers of blood. 

" See ! by the flash of momentary day, 
The hills are thronged with battle's dread array. 
There, Grallia's legions, reeking with the gore 
Of slaughtered Prussia ; thirsting deep for more ; 
Secure of Conquest ; ravening for their prey ; 
On Brussels thought, and cursed the night's delay. 
Here Brunswick's sable warriors, grim and still, 
Mourned their lost chief; and eyed the adverse hill 
With fell intent. Indignant at retreat. 
Here Britons burned once more that foe to greet. 
Yet were there some could slumber, and forget. 
Awhile, the deadly work for which they met. 
But anxious thoughts broke many a soldier's rest, 
Thoughts not unworthy of a Hero's breast. 
The rugged Veteran, struggling with a sigh, 
In fancy listened to his orphan's cry ; 
Saw them a prey to poverty and woe. 
And felt that pang which only parents know. 
With eager feelings, not unmixed with awe, 
A battle's eve now first the stripling saw : 
Weary, and wet, and famished, as he lay. 
Imagination, wandering far away. 
Shows him the scene of dear, domestic joy ; 
Laughs with him o'er the frolics of the boy. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 445 

Tlie words of parting tingle in his ears ; G. E. Scott, 

How swells his heart, as each loved form appears ! 

And now it yearns towards her, and her alone, 

Whom youth's fond dreams had giv'n him for his own. 

From these — from her — 'twas agony to part ! 

To-morrow's chance smote chill upon his heart. 

'Twas but a moment. Hope asserts her right, 

Grants him his wildest visions of delight. 

To gay, victorious thoughts, he lightly yields. 

And sleeps like Conde ere his first of fields.^ ^ 

" Slow broke the sun thro' that sad morning's gloom. 
And awful scenes, his watery beams illume. 
No glittering pageant met the dazzled eyes ; 
For painful marches and tempestuous skies 
Had quenched the light of steel — the pride of gold ; 
Each warrior's plight a tale of hardship told. 
And youthful eyes beamed gaiety no more, 
But all a look of settled fierceness wore. 

" It is a breathless pause — while armies wait 
The madd'ning signal for the work of fate. 
Its thunder spoke, — quick answering to the first, 
Peal upon peal in dread succession burst. 
Darted Imperial Eagles from their stand ; 
Eushed in their train a long- victorious band ; 
Shot down the slope, and dashed upon the wood, 
Where, calm and ready, Britain's guardians stood. 

" Hark to that yell ! as hand to hand they close. 
There the last shriek of multitudes arose ! 
— Hark to the musket-fire ! from man to man, 
Eapid, and gathering fury as it ran, 
It spreads, fierce crackling, thro' the ranks of death, 
While nations sink before its blasting breath. 
The war-smoke mounts ; cloud rolling after cloud : 
They spread ; they mingle ; till one sulph'rous shroud 
Enwraps the field. "VVTiat shouts, what demon-screams 
Rung from that misty vale ! What fiery gleams 

" " The battle of Eocroi, on the eve of which, according to Voltaire 
{Steele de Louis XIV), the Prince, having made all his dispositions, slept 
so soundly that they were obliged to awaken him for the engagement." — 
Note hy the Foet. 



446 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

G.E.Scott. Broke fast and far— oh! words are weak to tell. 

"~ It was a scene had less of earth than hell. 

" But look ! what means yon fitful, redd'ning glare ? 
What flames are struggling with the murky air ? 
Lo ! thro' the gloom they burst ! and full and bright 
Streams o'er the war their fearful, wavering light. 
Amidst yon wood 'tis raging. Yes ! thy towers. 
Ill-fated Hougomont, that blaze devours. 
Forth blindly rushing mingle friend and foe. 
See the walls tottering ! — there ! down, down they go 
Headlong ! Within that ruin to have been ! 
Oh ! shuddering fancy quails beneath the scene. 
For there had many a victim crept to die ; 
There, crushed and motionless, in heaps they lie. 
And happy they : for many a wretch was there, 
Powerful to suffer ; lingering in despair. 

" Is it the bursting earthquake's voice of fear ? 
That hollow rush ? No ! borne in full career 
On roll the chosen squadrons of the foe. 
Whose mail-clad bosoms mock the sabre's blow, 
Wild waves of sable plumage o'er them dancing ; 
Above that sea, quick, broken flashes glancing 
From brandished steel ; shrill raising, as they came. 
The spell of that all-conquering chieftain's name. 
Dismal the rattle of their harness grew; 
Their grisly features opened on the view. 

" Forth spurring, cheerful as their trumpets rang, 
The stately chivalry of England sprang. 
In native valour— arms of proof — arrayed ; 
Nought but his own right hand, and his good blade, 
To guard each hero's breast. Like thunder-clouds 
Eolling together, clash the foaming crowds. 
Their swords are falling with gigantic sway. 
And gashes yawn, and limbs are lopped away ; 
And lightened chargers toss the loosening rein, 
Break frantic forth, and scour along the plain. 
Their lords, the glorious shapes of war they bore, 
The terrible, the graceful — are no more ; 
Crushed out of man's similitude, expire, 
With nought to mark them from the gory mire, 



WATERLOO POETRY. 447 

(Tomb of their yet warm relics) save the last G. E. Scott. 

Convulsive flutter, as the spirit passed. 

Those iron squadrons reel ! their Eagle's won, 

Tho' squadrons bled to rescue it ! 'tis done, — 

That stern, unequal combat ! 'tis a chase ! 

Hot Wrath let loose on Terror and Disgrace ! 

Such is the desert antelope's career ; 

Plunging, and tossing, mad with pain and fear ; 

Whom her keen foe, the murd'rous vulture, rides 

With talons rooted in her streaming sides. 

Where, yonder, war's tumultuous billows roll ; 

Where each wild passion fires the frenzied soul ; 

The blood, the havoc, of that ruthless hour 

On those steeled hearts have lost their chilling power. 

The charging veteran marks, with careless eye, 

His comrade sink ; and, as he rushes by, 

Sees not the varied horrors of his lot ; 

Springs on his foe, and strikes, and shudders not. 
" But turn, and pity that brave, suffering band, 

Beneath the battery's fury doomed to stand 

With useless arms : with leisure to survey 

The wreck around them. Hearts of proof were they 

That shrunk not. Burning like a meteor star. 

With whirlwind's fury rushing from afar. 

The bolt of death .amidst their close array 

With deafening crash falls ; bursts ; and marks its way 

With torn and scattered victims. There are they 

Who, but one moment since, with haughty brow, 

Stood firm in conscious manliness. And now — 

Mark those pale, altered features ; those wild groans ; 

Those quiv'ring lips; those blood-stained, shattered bones ! 

With burning hearts, and half-averted eyes. 

Their fellows view that hideous sacrifice. 

Oh ! they did hail the summons with delight. 

That called them forth to mingle in the fight. 

Forward they press : too busy now to heed 

The piteous cry ; the wail of those who plead 

With frantic earnestness to friend and chief 

For help to bear them off; for that relief 



448 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 

G. E. Scott. Which might not be. How sunk the sufferer's heart, 

~ Who saw his hopes expire — his friends depart, 

And leave him to his woes- — a helpless prey. 
Death ! death alone may be his friend to-day. 
'Tis he shall calm each agonising fear 
Of trampling hoofs, or lancer's coward spear ; ^^ 
Shall cool that thirst, and bid those torments cease, 
And o'er him shed the sweets of sleep and peace. 

" When storms are loud, go, view some rugged shore, 
Tow'rds whose stern barrier hoarsely racing pour 
The long dark billows ; swelling till they curl ; 
Then full against the rocks their fury hurl. 
And spring aloft in clouds. Dost see that wave 
Leap at the cliffs, and into yonder cave 
Ride, swift and high ? From the rude sides recoiling. 
It flies in showers of spray ; then, fiercely boiling, 
Eallies, and drives its might amongst the crags, 
Wheeling in eddies — vain ! its fury flags ; 
Tost from their points, it yields ; and to the deep, 
Baffled and broken, as its currents sweep, 
Leaves to its conqu'rors, on the cavern floor. 
The wreaths of foam ; the crest it proudly wore. 
Firm as the rocks that strew that sea-beat coast, 
In clust'ring masses stood the British host. 
Fierce as those waves, the warrior horse of Graul 
Streamed, blindly rushing to as sure a fall. 
Ever, as near to each dark square they drew, 
In act to plunge, and crush th' unshrinking few, 
Burst, as from Death's own jaws, a fiery shower. 
Whose 'whelming blast, whose paralysing power, 
Nought earthly might withstand. To rise no more, 
Whole ranks are down. The treach'rous cuirass tore 
The breast beneath ; in splinters flew the lance. 
Yet nobly true to Grlory and to France — 
Yet, 'mid the ruin, many a steadfast heart. 
E'en to the last, played well a chieftain's part. 

12 " This epitliet cau, of course, only refer to tlie use made of the weapon 
by the French against the wounded and helpless. "—Aoi^e hy the Poet. 



WATERLOO POETEY. 449 

They lived to see their efforts fail to cheer G.E.ScoH. 

Those veterans, pale with all unwonted fear. 

In vain devotion, in despairing pride, 

They rushed upon the bristling steel and died. 

What tho' the remnant fled ? Fresh myriads rear 

The forked banner, couch the threatening spear ; 

Drive, and are driven, to that fatal goal ; 

Countless as clouds before the gale that roll ; 

Fast, as the troubled world of waters pours 

Wave upon wave, from undiminished stores. 

" The tide has turned : the roar is dying fast . 
Each lessening wave breaks shorter than the last ; 
And France, the life-blood ebbing from her veins, 
Feebly, yet furious still, for victory strains. 
One effort more ! a mighty one ! She came, 
Nerved by despair, and goaded on by shame. 
But Britain marked her fainting rival's plight, 
And gave her vengeance way ; and from her height 
Plunged, like the lava cataract, whose roar 
Shakes frozen Hecla's precipices hoar. 
The bright blue gems of Arctic ice that crowned 
Her lofty head, are melting all around ; 
A thousand winters' hardened depth of snow 
Is vanishing before that torrent's glow ; 
Mighty the rocks that, frowning, bar its path : 
Eending, uprooting, scattering them in wrath ; 
The flaming deluge, with resistless sway. 
Holds on its widely desolating way. 

" France ! thou art fallen ! and he, so oft the boast, 
The idol, of thine oft-deserted host, 
Leaves it once more — to curse his name and die. 
But as he turned, what phantoms met his eye ? 
Eising like those wild shapes that from the dead 
Eeturn to haunt the tortured murderer's bed. 
No, mighty murderer ! 'tis not a dream ! 
'Tis Prussia's self ! her own exulting scream ! 
Fliest thou ? she comes, with lavish hands to pay 
The debt that swelled thro' many a bitter day, 

G G 



45 O QUATRE BRAS; LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

G. E, Scott. There's rust upon her steel. Aye ! there was shed 

The deacUiest venom hatred ever bred. 
And she shall wash that deeply cankering stain, 
France, in thy blood and tears : but wash in vain. 
Not all the flames she kindles in thy land 
Shall ever brighten that polluted brand. 
'Tis retribution, bloody as thy deeds : 
But who shall pity when a tiger bleeds ? 

" Then cry for mercy ! was it not denied 
To every suppliant in thine hour of pride ? 
Grrim laughs th' avenger hanging on thy way, 
Weary with slaughter, lab'ring still to slaj : 
And unfleshed Belgians hurry down to glean 
The field where Britain's generous hand had been. 

" To distant skies that hurricane has rolled — 
But oh ! the wreck is left ! Could tongue unfold 
The matchless horrors of those cumbered plains, 
'Twould chill the current in a warrior's veins. 
And yet, that field of anguish, brief as keen, 
Was but the centre of the one wide scene 
Of human misery ! Oh ! who shall say 
How many wounded spirits, far away, 
Are left to groan thro' long, chill, bitter years. 
Beneath the woe that nothing earthly cheers ? 
Shall Glory be the widowed bride's relief ? 
She feels it but a mockery of grief. 
Shall Glory dry the childless mother's tears ? 
Harsh grate the notes of Fame upon her ears ! 
Thine are no Spartan matrons, favoured isle ! 
Gentle as fair ! The sunshine of their smile, 
Where the proud victor loves to bask, is set. 
With Sorrow's dew the loveliest cheeks are wet. 
Throughout the land is gone a mourning voice ; 
And broken are the hearts that should rejoice. 
Dimly, as yet, the Crown of Victory shines ; 
Where cypress with the blood-stained laurel twines. 
But there shall Time the brightest verdure breathe, 
And pluck the gloomy foliage from her wreath. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 45 1 

Then proudly shall posterity retrace, G. E. Scott. 

Fkst in the deathless honours of their race, 

That giant fight, which crushed Napoleon's power. 

And saved the world. Far distant is the hour 

Unheard of, yet, the deed our sons must do, 

That shall eclipse thy glory, Waterloo ! " 

To a fertile fancy a battlefield like that of Waterloo, Spectm 



i-al 



poems. 
Victor 



seen by night, is pretty certain to impart ghostly sug- 
gestions. Victor Hugo indulges in prose poetry of this Hugo' 
kind in Les Miserahles: — 

" The field of Waterloo has at the present day that calmness 
which belongs to the earth, and resembles all plains, but at 
night a sort of visionary mist rises from it, and if any traveller 
will walk about it, and listen and dream, like Virgil on the 
mournful plains of Philippi, the hallucination of the catastrophe 
seizes upon him. The frightful June i8th lives again, the 
false monumental hill is levelled, the wondrous lion is dissi- 
pated, the battlefield resumes its reality, lines of infantry un- 
dulate on the plain, furious galloping crosses the horizon ; the 
startled dreamer sees the flash of sabres, the sparkle of bayo- 
nets, the red light of shells, the monstrous collision of thun- 
derbolts ; he hears, like a death-groan from the tomb, the 
vague clamour of the phantom battle. These shadows are 
grenadiers ; these flashes are cuirassiers ; this skeleton is Na- 
poleon ; this skeleton is Wellington ; all this is non-existent, 
and yet still combats, and the ravines are stained purple, and 
the trees rustle, and there is fury in even the clouds and in 
the darkness, while all the stern heights, Mont St. Jean, 
Hougomont, Frischermont, Papelotte, and Planchenoit, seem 
confusedly crowned by hosts of spectres exterminating one 
another." 

Scott probably was the first to work in this fruitful sir w 
mine, exhuming his Dance of Deaths already mentioned. 
In it he worked over again the demon-dance which he 
bad employed in Marmion to prelude the horrors of 

G G 2 



452 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Spectral tliG Battle of FlocMen ; and he makes his phantoms on 
poems^ the plain of Waterloo " wheel their wild dance " during 
the night before the action, 

" And still their ghastly roundelay- 
Was of the coming battle-fray, 
And of the destined dead." 

zediitz. The Austrian Baron von Zedlitz — himself a foeman 

of the French, who had fought at Eegensburg, Aspern, 
and Wagram, a man of letters and dramatist, and trans- 
lator of Childe Harold into German — was similarly 
inspired to write Die Ndchtliche Heerschau, which was 
set to music by the Chevalier Neukomm and Englished 
in several versions. That which follows is the anony- 
mous one used by Longfellow in his Poets and Poetry of 
Europe : — 

"The Midnight Eeview. 

" At midnight from his grave 
The drummer woke and rose, 
And beating loud the drum, 
Forth on his errand goes. 

" Stirred by his fleshless arms, 
The drumsticks rise and fall ; 
He beats the loud retreat, 
Keveille, and roll-call. 

" So strangely rolls that drum, 
So deep it echoes round, 
Old soldiers in their graves 
To life start at the sound — 

" Both they in farthest North, 
Stiff in the ice that lay. 
And they who warm repose 
Beneath Italian clay. 



WATEELOO POETRY. 



45, 



" Below the mud of Nile, 

And 'neath the Arabian sand, 
Their burial-place they quit, 
And soon to arms they stand. 

" And at midnight from his grave 
The trumpeter arose, 
And, mounted on his horse, 
A loud, shrill blast he blows. 

" On airy coursers then 
The cavalry are seen. 
Old squadrons, erst renowned, 
Grory and gashed, I ween. 

" Beneath the casque their skulls 
Smile grim, and proud their air. 
As in their bony hands 

Their long, sharp swords they bare. 

" And at midnight from his tomb 
The chief awoke and rose, 
And, followed by his staff, 
With slow steps on he goes. 

" A little hat he wears, 

A coat quite plain has he, 
A little sword for arms 

At his left side hangs free.^^ 

" O'er the vast plain the moon 
A paly lustre threw : 
The man with the little hat 
The troops goes to review. 



Spectral 
poems. 

Zedlitz. 



^^ This stanza may specially Ulus- 
trate that process of Mmproving' 
simply written verse into heroics, 
which has already been instanced in 

'^ Er tragt ein kleines Hiitchen, 
Er tragt ein einfach Kleid, 
Und einen kleinen Degen 
Tragt er an seiner Seit'.' 



the case of Queen Hortense's chanson. 
The original and its improvement by 
one of the translators are as fol- 
lows : — 

" No plume his helm adorneth, 
His garb no regal pride, 
And small is the polished sabre 
That's girded to his side." 



Spectral 
poems. 

Zedlitz. 



Heine. 



454 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

" The ranks present their arms, 
Deep rolls the drum the while ; 
Eecovering then, the troops 
Before the chief defile. 

" Captains and generals round 
In circles formed appear ; 
The chief to the first a word 
Now whispers in his ear. 

" The word goes round the ranks, 
Eesounds along the line ; 
That word they give is France ! 
The answer^ — Sainte-Helene ! 

" 'Tis there, at midnight hour, 
The grand review, they say, 
Is by dead Csesar held 
In the Cliawh'ps-Elysees.^^ 

Heine employs these ghostly warriors in his Pictures 
of Travel, in prose ; ^'^ and in his Book of Songs is a 
poem which holds an intermediate place between the 
possible and the supernatural, of which there is only 
the promise. The translation which follows is by Edgar 
Alfred Bo wring : — 

" The Grenadiees. 

" Two grenadiers travell'd tow'rds France one day, 
On leaving their prison in Eussia, 
And sadly they hung their heads in dismay. 
When they reached the frontiers of Prussia. 

" For then they first heard the story of woe. 
That France had utterly perish'd ; 
The Grrand Army had met with an overthrow. 
They had captured their Emperor cherish'd. 

1* An extract of this kind from tliat work will be found in note 19, page 475. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 455 

" Then both of the grenadiers wept full sore Spectral 

At hearing the terrible story; poems^ 

And one of them said, ' Alas ! once more Heme. 
My wounds are bleeding and gory.' 

" The other one said, ' The game's at an end, 
With thee I would die right gladly, 
But I've wife and child, whom at home I should tend, 
For without me they'll fare but badly.' 

" ' What matters my child, what matters my wife ? 
A heavier case has arisen ; 
Let them beg, if they're hungry, all their life — 
My Emperor sighs in a prison ! 

" ' Dear brother, pray grant me this last prayer ; 
If my hours I now must number, 
take my corpse to my country fair, 
That there it may peacefully slumber. 

" ' The Legion of Honour, with ribbon red. 
Upon my bosom place thou. 
And put in my hand my musket dread. 
And my sword around me brace thou. 

" ' And so in my grave will I silently lie. 

And watch like a guard o'er the forces, 
Until the roaring of cannon hear I, 
And the trampling of neighing horses. 

" ' My Emperor then will ride over my grave. 

While the swords glitter brightly and rattle ; 
Then armed to the teeth will I rise from the grave. 
For my Emperor hasting to battle.' " 

At last Thomas Hood, tired very likely of Waterloo Hood. 
poems, undertook to laugh down the spectral variety at 
least, and produced what he called " a new version " : — 



Hood. 



456 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 



" Napoleon's Midnight Review. 

" In his bedj bolt upright, 

In the dead of the night, 
The French Emperor starts like a ghost I 

By a dream held in charm. 

He uplifts his right arm, 
For he dreams of reviewing his host. 

" To the stable he glides. 
For the charger he rides ; 

And he mounts him, still under the spell ; 
Then with echoing tramp, 
They proceed through the camp, 

All intent on a task he loves well. 

" Such a sight soon alarms, 

And the guards present arms 
As he glides to the posts that they keep ; 

Then he gives the brief word, 

And the bugle is heard. 
Like a hound giving tongue in its sleep. 

" Next the drums they arouse, 

But with dull row-de-dows, 
And they give but a somnolent sound. 

While the foot and horse, both. 

Very slowly and loth, 
Begin drowsily mustering round. 

" To the right and left hand 

They fall in, by command, 
In a line that might be better dressed ; 

While the steeds blink and nod, 

And the lancers think odd 
To be roused like the spears from their rest 

" With their mouth of wide shape, 
Mortars seem all agape. 



WATEELOO POETRY. 457 

Heavy guns look more heavy with sleep ; Spectral 

And, whatever their bore, °!!^!l. 

Seem to think it one more ^°°^' 

In a night such a field-day to keep. 

" Then the arms christened small 

Fire no volley at all, 
But go off, like the rest, in a doze ; 

And the eagles, poor things, 

Tuck their heads 'neath their wings, 
And the band ends in tunes through the nose. 

" Till each pupil of Mars 

Takes a wink like the stars, — 
Open order no eye can obey : 

If the plumes in their heads 

Were the feathers of beds. 
Never top could be sounder than they. 

" So, just wishing good-night. 

Bows Napoleon polite ; 
But instead of a loyal endeavour 

To reply with a cheer, 

Not a sound met his ear. 
Though each face seemed to say ' Naj) for ever ! ' " 

The introduction of French Waterloo poems would Deiavigne. 
swell these pages beyond all reasonable limits ; but 
room may be made for an extract from Casimir-Dela- 
vigne's Battle of Waterloo. The poem as a whole, 
besides being long, is so largely devoted to the French 
political dissensions of its own day that it has not great 
present interest. But the passage devoted to the Guard 
is a fine tribute to the acts of devotion which have 
already been described in the prose of the author's 
fellow-Academicians, Thiers and Hugo. The translation 
is anonymous, having appeared originally in The London 
Magazine : — 



458 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Deiavigne. " But no, — what son of France has spared his tears 

For her defenders, dying in their fame ? 
Though kings return, desired through lengthening years, 

What old man's cheek is tinged not with her shame ? 
What veteran, who their fortune's treason hears. 

Feels not the quickening spark of his old youthful flame ? 

" Grood Heaven ! what lessons mark that one day's page, 
What ghastly figures that might crowd an age ! 
How shall the historic Muse record the day. 
Nor, starting, cast the trembling pen away ? 
Hide from me, hide, those soldiers overborne. 
Broken with toil, with death-bolts crushed and torn, — 
Those quivering limbs with dust defiled. 
And bloody corses upon corses piled. 

Veil from mine eyes that monument 

Of nation against nation spent 

In struggling rage that pants for breath ; 

Spare us the bands thou sparedst. Death ! 
Varus ! where the warriors thou hast led ? 
Eestore our Legions ! give us back the dead ! 

" I saw the broken squadrons reel. 
The steeds plunge wild with spurning heel. 
Our eagles trod in miry gore. 
The leopard standards swooping o'er ; 
The wounded on their slow cars dying, 
The rout disordered, wavering, flying ; 
Tortured with struggles vain, the throng 
Sway, shock, and drag their shattered mass along, 
And leave behind their long array 
Wrecks, corses, blood, — the footmarks of their way. 

" Through whirlwind smoke and flashing flame, — 
grief! — what sight appals mine eye ? 

The sacred band, with generous shame. 
Sole 'gainst an army, pause — to die 

Struck with the rare devotion, 'tis in vain, 

The foes at gaze their blades restrain ; 

And, proud to conquer, hem them round : the cry 

Keturns, ' The Guard surrender not ! — they die ! 



WATERLOO POETRY. 459 

" 'Tis said, that, when in dust they saw them he, Delavigne. 

A reverend sorrow for their brave career 
Smote on the foe : they fixed the pensive eye, 
And first beheld them undisturbed with fear. 

" See, then, these heroes, long invincible, 

Whose threatening features still their conquerors brave ; 
Frozen in death those eyes are terrible ; 

Feats of the past their deep-scarred brows engrave : 
For these are they who bore Italia's sun, 

Who o'er Castilia's mountain-barrier passed. 
The North beheld them o'er the rampart run 

Which frost of ages round her Eussia cast. 
All sank subdued before them, and the date 

Of combats owed this guerdon to their glory. 
Seldom to Franks denied — to fall elate 

On some proud day that should survive in story." 

Lord Byron's bitter tirade against the Duke of Wei- Byron, 
lington, at the opening of Canto IX of Don Juan, ought 
to be separated as far as possible from the better known 
passage in Childe Harold, where the poet contents him- 
self with simply ignoring the hero of Waterloo. Byron's 
real opinion of Wellington — for his real opinions on all 
subjects were systematically perverted when, in certain 
of his moods, he wrote for the public eye — is more 
nearly conveyed in a letter of his to Tom Moore apropos 
of the Battle of Waterloo (July 7, 18 15): — 

" Every hope of a republic is over, and we must go on under 
the old system. But I am sick at heart of politics and slaugh- 
ters, and the luck which Providence is pleased to lavish on 
Lord Castlereagh is only a proof of the little value the gods 

set upon prosperity, when they permit such s as he and 

that drunken corporal, old Bliicher, to bully their betters. 
From this, however, Wellington should be excepted. He is a 
man, and the Scipio of our Hannibal. However, he may 
thank the Kussian frosts, which destroyed the real elite of 
the French army, for the success of Waterloo." 



460 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Byrou. Of Bluclier he wrote, later — 

" I remember seeing Bluclier in the London assemblies, and 
never saw anything of his age less venerable. With the voice 
and manners of a recruiting sergeant, he pretended to the 
honours of a hero,— just as if a stone could be worshipped be- 
cause a man had stumbled over it." 

While in such a humour about Napoleon's downfall and 
those who had had a hand in it, Byron was very capable 
of venting his spleen in vitriolic phrases against the 
chief agent in the catastrophe. But there must further 
be borne in mind the special conditions under which 
Don Juan was evolved. Byron was at odds with the 
entire representative British public, and took a kind of 
impish delight in saying whatever could most thoroughly 
exasperate it. Of his own temper at the time of pub- 
lishing the earlier cantos he wrote to Murray (Bologna, 
August 24, 1 8 19): — 

" I wish that I had been in better spirits ;' but I am out of 
sorts, out of nerves, and now and then (I begin to fear) out of 
my senses. All this Italy has done for me, and not England : 
I defy you all, and your climate to boot, to make me mad. But 
if really I do ever become a bedlamite, and wear a strait- 
waistcoat, let me be brought back among you ; your people will 
then be proper company." 

Constitutionally prone to attitudinize in ostentation of 
the worst moods his introspective imagination could 
depict — like a spoiled child that courts censure rather 
than pass unnoticed, — Byron devised a poem expressly 
calculated to scandalize British proprieties. Don Juan 
was an audacious defiance of his countrymen's sensibili- 
ties, poetical, pohtical, social, and moral ; and, to irritate 
them to the utmost, he struck at one of their most 
vulnerable points — the hero of the nation, the Duke of 
Wellington, whom popular and poetical adulation had 



WATERLOO POETRY. 



461 



set up as a sort of demigod. In presenting himself as 
the Vandal iconoclast of the British idol, Byron was 
actuated, unconsciously perhaps, by another kind of 
impulse which also originated in egotism and vanity. 
To men of a certain kind of inharmoniously developed 
genius — to Byron, to Heine, to Victor Hugo, for ex- 
ample ; to all that class of fertile minds which form no 
settled political or social system, but generate a re- 
dundancy of undefined theories and yearnings, and very 
well defined prejudices and hatreds — it was gall and 
wormwood that the congenially brilliant, perhaps 
tawdry, achievements of Napoleon should be crushed 
down by the plain, shrewd, sound sense, uncoupled 
with originative inspiration but backed by tireless 
patience and dogged resolution, of which Wellington 
was the embodiment.^^ It was under such inspiration 



Byron. 



^^ Victor Hugo himself draws the 
contrastin Les Miserables. " Water- 
loo," he says, " is the strangest en- 
counter recorded in history ; Na- 
poleon and Wellington are not 
enemies, but contraries. Never did 
Grod, who delights in antitheses, pro- 
duce a more striking contrast or a 
more extraordinary confrontation. 
On one side precision, foresight, 
geometry, prudence, a retreat as- 
sured, reserves prepared, an obstinate 
coolness, an imperturbable method, 
strategy profiting by the ground, 
tactics balancing battalions, carnage 
measured by a plumb-hne, war regu- 
lated watch in hand, nothing left 
voluntarily to accident, old classic 
courage and absolute correctness' 
On the other side we have intuition, 
divination, military strangeness, 
superhuman instinct, a flashing 
glance ; something that gazes like the 
eagle and strikes like lightning, all 
the mysteries of a profound mind, 



association with destiny ; the river, 
the plain, the forest, and the hill 
summoned, and to some extent com- 
pelled, to obey, the despot going so 
far as even to tyrannize over the 
battlefield, faith in a star blended 
with strategic science, heightening, 
but troubling it. Wellington was 
the Barreme of war. Napoleon was 
its Michael Angelo, and this true 
genius was conquered by calculation. 
On both sides somebody was ex- 
pected ; and it was the exact cal- 
culator who succeeded. Napoleon 
waited for Grouchy, who did not 
come; Wellington waited for Blii- 
cher, and he came. ... It was 
a triumph of mediocrity, sweet to 
majorities ; and destiny consented to 
this irony. . . . Waterloo is a battle 
of the first class, gained by a captain 
of the second." = Heine, the most 
immoderate of Napoleon-worship- 
pers, went to a far greater extreme. 
In his English Fragments, he savs 



462 



QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Byron, that Byron, years after the battle of Waterloo, penned 
his apostrophe to its victor : — 



in the chapter entitled Wellington, 
" We see in him only the victory of 
stupidity over genius — Arthur Wel- 
lington triumphant where Napoleon 
Bonaparte is overwhelmed ! Never 
was a naan more ironically gifted by 
Fortune, and it seems to us as 
though she would exhibit his 
empty littleness by raising him high 
on the shield of Victory. Fortune 
is a woman, and perhaps, in wo- 
manly wise, she cherishes a secret 
grudge against the man who over- 
threw her former darling, though the 
very overthrow came from her own 
will. . . . What vexes me most is the 
reflection that Wellington wiU be 
as immoital as Napoleon Bonaparte. 
. . . Wellington and Napoleon ! It 
is a wonderfid phenomenon that 
the human mind can at the same 
time think of both these names. 
There can be no greater contrast 
than the two, even in their external 
appearance. Wellington, the dumb 
ghost, with an ashy grey soul in a 
buckram body, a wooden smile in his 
freezing face — and by the side of that 
think of the figure of Napoleon, every 
inch a god ! " = Beside the rhapsody 
of Victor Hugo, the typical French- 
man, may be set the comparison as 
instituted by an Englishman long 
after the prejudices and flatteries of 
the day had given place to sober 
reason. It is from the chapter of 
]\Ir. Justin McCarthy's History of Our 
Own Time whicli records the death 
of the Duke of Wellington: — "His 
success was due in great measure to 
a sort of inspired common sense 
which rose to something like genius. 
He had in the highest conceivable 
derjree the art of winning victories. 



In war, as in statesmanship, he had 
one characteristic which is said to 
have been the special gift of Julius 
Csesar, and for the lack of which 
Csesar's greatest modern rival in the 
art of conquest, the first Napoleon, 
lost all or nearly all that he had won. 
Wellington not only understood 
what could be done, but also what 
could not be done. The wild schemes 
of almost imiversal rule which set 
Napoleon astray and led him to his 
destruction, would have appeared to 
the strong common sense of the 
Duke of Wellington as impossible 
and absurd as they would have 
looked to the lofty intelligence of 
Osesar. It can hardly be questioned 
that in original genius Napoleon far 
surpassed the Duke of Wellington. 
But Wellington always knew what 
he could do, and Napoleon often 
confounded his ambitions with his 
capacities. Wellington provided for 
everything, looked after everything, 
never trusted to his star, or to 
chance, or to anything but care and 
preparation and the proper appli- 
cation of means to ends. Under al- 
most any conceivable conditions Wel- 
lington, pitted against Napoleon, 
was the man to win in the end. The 
very genius of Napoleon would 
sooner or later have left him open 
to the unsleeping watchfulness, the 
almost infallible judgment of Wel- 
lington. ... It is impossible to com- 
pare two such men. There is hardly 
any common basis of comparison. 
To say which is the greater, one 
must first make up his mind as to 
whether his standard of greatness is 
genius or duty. Napoleon has made 
a far deeper impression on history. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 463 

I. 

" Oh, Wellington ! (or ' Villainton ' — for fame Byron. 

Sounds the heroic syllables both ways ; ■ 

France could not even conquer your great name, 

But punn'd it down to this facetious phrase — 
Beating or beaten she will laugh the same) — 

You have obtain'd great pensions and much praise 
Glory like yours should any dare gainsay, 
Humanity would rise, and thunder, ' Nay.'' ^^ 



III. 

" Though Britain owes (and pays you too) so much. 
Yet Europe doubtless owes you greatly more : 

You have repair'd legitimacy's crutch — 
A prop not quite so certain as before : 

The Spanish, and the French, as well as Dutch, 
Have seen, and felt, how strongly you restore ; 

And Waterloo has made the world your debtor — 

(I wish your bards would sing it rather better). 



IV. 

" You are ' the best of cut-throats ; ' — do not start ; 

The phrase is Shakespeare's, and not misapplied ; 
War's a brain-spattering, windpipe-slitting art. 

Unless her cause by right be sanctified. 
If you have acted once a generous part. 

The world, not the world's masters, will decide. 
And I shall be delighted to learn who. 
Save you and yom^s, have gain'd by Waterloo ? 

If that be superior greatness, it ruined his. . . . Wellmgtou more 

would be scarcely possible for any nearly resembled Washington than 

national partiality to claim an equal Napoleon. He was a much greater 

place for Wellington. But English- soldier than Washington, but he was 

men may be content with the reflec- not on the whole so great a man." 

tion that their hero saved his ^® Byron's note. — " Query, Ney ? 

country, and that Napoleon nearly — Printpr''s Devil.'" 



464 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

V. 

Byron. " I am no flatterer — you've supp'd full of flattery : 

They say you like it too — 'tis no great wonder : 
He whose whole life has been assault and battery, 

At last may get a little tired of thunder, 
And swallowing eulogy much more than satire, he 
May like being praised for every lucky blunder, 
Called ' Saviour of the Nations ' — not yet saved. 
And ' Europe's Liberator ' — still enslaved. 

VI. 

" I've done. Now go and dine from off the plate 
Presented by the Prince of the Brazils, 

And send the sentinel before your gate ''' 
A slice or two from your luxurious meals : 

He fought, but has not fed so well of late ; 
Some hunger, 1 00, they say the people feels : 

There is no doubt that you deserve your ration— - 

But pray give back a little to the nation. 

VII. 

" I don't mean to reflect — a man so great as 
You, my Lord Duke, is far above reflection. 

The high old Eoman fashion, too, of Cincinnatus 
With modern history has but small connection ; 

Though as an Irishman you love potatoes 

You need not take them under your direction ; 

And half a million for your Sabine farm 

Is rather dear ! — I'm sure I mean no harm. 



" Byrmi's note. — " ' I at this thing I had not got for some days, 

time got a post, being for fatigue, When thus engaged, the Prodigal 

with four others. We were sent to Son was never once out of my mind ; 

break biscuit and make a mess for and I sighed, as I fed the dogs, over 

Lord Wellington's hoimds. I was my humble situation and my ruined 

very hungry, and thought it a good hopes.' — Journal of a Soldier of the 

job at the time, as we got our own jist Regiment during the War in 

fill while we broke the biscuit — a Sjiain." 



WATEELOO POETRY, 465 

VIII. 

" Great men have always scorn'd great recompenses. Byron. 

Epaminonda saved his Thebes, and died, ' 

Not leaving even his funeral expenses : 

Greorge Washington had thanks and nought beside 
Except the all-countless glory (which few men's is) 

To free his country ! Pitt, too, had his pride, 
And, as a high-soul'd minister of state, is 
Eenown'd for ruining Grreat Britain, gratis. 

IX. 

" Never had mortal man such opportunity, 

Except Napoleon, or abused it more : 
You might have freed fall'n Europe from the unity 

Of tyrants, and been bless'd from shore to shore ; 
Andnow — what is your fame? Shall the Muse tune it ye? 

Now — that the rabble's first vain shouts are o'er ? 
Gro, hear it in your famish'd country's cries ! 
Behold the world ! and curse your victories ! 



" As these new cantos touch on warlike feats. 

To you the unflattering Muse deigns to inscribe 

Truths that you will not read in the Grazettes ; 
But which, 'tis time to teach the hireling tribe 

Who fatten on their country's gore and debts, 
3Iust be recited, and — without a bribe. 

You did great things ; but, not being great in mind, 

Have left undone the greatest — and mankind." 

Byron's bitter lines were well on the way to be for- xennys 
gotten when Tennyson — who had succeeded Words- 
worth as Poet-Laureate at the close of the year 1850 — 
produced, as the first of his official poems, liis Ode on 
the Death of the Duke of Wellington. Perhaps because of 
its length, perhaps because it is of another order of 
poetry than that by which its writer has commanded 

H H 



466 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Tennyson, admiratioii, tlie ode is generally respected rather than 
enjoyed or known. It will no doubt endure as a stately 
monument to " England's greatest son," but it will never 
be read through loj thousands who have The Charge of 
the Light Brigade at their tongues' end and study the 
Idylls of the King. 

" Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington. 

I. 
" Bury the Great Duke 

W^ith an empire's lamentation, 
Let us bury the Grreat Duke 

To the noise of the mourning of a mighty nation. 
Mom'ning when their leaders fall, 
Warriors carry the warrior's pall, 
And sorrow darkens hamlet and hall. 

II. 

" Where shall we lay the man whom we deplore ? 
Here, in streaming London's central roar. 
Let the sound of those he wrought for, • 
And the feet of those he fought for, 
Echo round his bones for evermore. 

III. 

" Lead out the jpageant : sad and slow. 
As fits an universal woe. 
Let the long long procession go, 
And let the sorrowing crowd about it grow. 
And let the mournful martial music blow ! 
The last great Englishman is low. 

IV. 

" Mourn, for to us he seems the last, 
Kemembering all his greatness in the Past. 
No more in soldier fashion will he greet 
With lifted hand the gazer in the street. 



WATEELOO POETRY, 467 

friends, our chief state-oracle is mute : Tennyson. 

Mourn for the man of long enduring blood, 

The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute, 

Whole in himself, a common good. 

Mourn for the man of amplest influence, 

Yet clearest of ambitious crime, 

Our greatest, yet with least pretence, 

Grreat in council and great in war, 

Foremost captain of his time, 

Eich in saving common-sense, 

And, as the greatest only are, 

In his simplicity sublime. 

good grey head, w^hich all men knew, 

voice, from which their omens all men drew, 

iron nerve, to true occasion true, 

fall'n at length that tower of strength 

Which stood fom^-square to all the winds that blew ! 

Such was he whom we deplore. 

The long self-sacrifice of life is o'er. 

The great World- victor's victor will be seen no more. 

V. 
All is over and done : 
Eender thanks to the Giver, 
England, for thy son. 
Let the bell be toll'd. 
Eender thanks to the Griver, 
And render him to the mould. 
Under the cross of gold 
That shines over city and river, 
There he shall rest for ever 
Among the wise and the bold. 
Let the bell be toll'd : 
And a reverent people behold 
The towering car, the sable steeds : 
Bright let it be with its blazon'd deeds, 
Dark in its funeral fold. 
Let the bell be toll'd : 

n H 2 



i 



468 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

And a deeper knell in the heart be knoll'd, 

And the sound of the sorrowing anthem roll'd 

Thro' the dome of the golden cross ; 

And the volleying cannon thunder his loss ; 

He knew their voices of old. 

For many a time in many a clime 

His captain's ear has heard them boom, 

Bellowing victory, bellowing doom : 

When he with those deep voices wrought, 

Gruarding realms and kings from shame ; 

With those deep voices our dead captain taught 

The tyrant, and asserts his claim 

In that dread sound to the great name 

Which he has worn so pure of blame, 

In praise and in dispraise the same, 

A man of well-attemper'd frame. 

civic muse, to such a name, 

To such a name for ages long. 

To such a name, 

Preserve a broad approach of fame, 

And ever-echoing avenues of so ng. 

VI. 

" Who is he that cometh like an honoured guest, 
With banner and with music, with soldier and with priest, 
With a nation weeping, and breaking on my rest ? 
Mighty Seaman, this is he 
Was great by land as thou by sea. 
Thine island loves thee well, thou famous man, 
The greatest sailor since our world began. 
Now, to the roll of muffled drums. 
To thee the greatest soldier comes ; 
For this is he 

Was great by land as thou by sea ; 
His foes were thine ; he kept us free ; 
give him welcome, this is he 
Worthy of our gorgeous rites, 
And worthy to be laid by thee 



WATERLOO POETKY. 469 

For this is England's greatest son, Tennyson. 

He that gained a hundred fights, 

Nor ever lost an English gun ; 

This is he that far away 

Against the myriads of Assaye 

Clashed with his fiery few and won ; 

And underneath another sun. 

Warring on a later day, 

Eound affrighted Lisbon drew 

The treble works, the vast designs 

Of his labour'd rampart-lines, 

^^^here he greatly stood at bay. 

Whence he issued forth anew, 

And ever great and greater grew. 

Beating from the wasted vines 

Back to France her banded swarms, 

Back to France with countless blows. 

Till o'er the hills her eagles flew 

Beyond the Pyrenean pines, 

Followed up in valley and glen 

With blare of bugle, clamour of men, 

EoU of cannon and clash of arms, 

And England pouring on her foes. 

Such a war had such a close. 

Again their ravening eagle rose 

In anger, wheel'd on Europe-shadowing wings. 

And barking for the thrones of kings ; 

Till one that sought but Duty's iron crown 

On that loud Sabbath shook the spoiler down ; 

A day of onsets of despair ! 

Dash'd on every rocky square. 

Their surging charges foamed themselves away ; 

Last, the Prussian trumpet blew : 

Through the long-tormented air 

Heaven flash'd a sudden jubilant ray, 

And down we swept, and charged, and overthrew. 

So great a soldier taught us there 

What long-enduring hearts could do 

In that world's-earthquake, Waterloo ! 



4/0 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Tennj-son. Mighty Seaman, tender and true, 

And pure as lie from taint of craven guile, 

saviour of the silver-coasted isle, 

shaker of the Baltic and the Nile, 

If aught of things that here befall 

Touch a spirit among things divine, 

If love of country move thee there at all. 

Be glad, because his bones are laid by thine ! 

And thro' the centuries let a people's voice 

In full acclaim, 

A people's voice. 

The proof and echo of all human fame, 

A people's voice, when they rejoice 

At civic revel and pomp and game. 

Attest their great commander's claim 

With honour, honour, honour, honour to him. 

Eternal honour to his name. 

VII. 

" A people's voice ! we are a people yet. 
Tho' all men else their nobler dreams forget. 
Confused by brainless mobs and lawless Powera ; 
Thank Him who isled us here, and roughly set 
His Briton in blown seas and storming showers, 
We have a voice with which to pay the debt 
Of boundless love and reverence and regret 
To those great men who fought and kept it ours. 
And keep it ours, God, from brute control ; 
Statesmen, guard us, guard the eye, the soul 
Of Europe, keep our noble England whole. 
And save the one true seed of freedom sown 
Betwixt a people and their ancient throne. 
That sober freedom out of which there springs 
Our loyal passion for our temperate kings ; 
For, saving that, ye help to save mankind 
Till public wrong be crumbled into dust, 
And drill the raw world for the march of mind, 
Till crowds at length be sane and crowns be just. 
But wink no more in slothful overtrust. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 47 1 

Eemember him who led your hosts ; Tennyson. 

He bade you guard the sacred coasts. 

Your canuons moulder on the seaward wall ; 

His voice is silent in your council-hall 

For ever ; and whatever tempests lour 

For ever silent ; even if they broke 

In thunder, silent ; yet remember all 

He spoke among you, and the Man who spoke ; 

Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, 

Nor palter'd with Eternal God for power ; 

Who let the turbid streams of Rumour flow 

Thro' either babbling world of high and low ; 

Whose life was work, whose language rife 

With rugged maxims hewn from life ; 

Who never spoke against a foe ; 

Whose eighty winters freeze with one rebuke 

All great self-seekers trampling on the right : 

Truth-teller was our England's Alfred named ; 

Truth-lover was our English Duke ; 

Whatever record leap to light, 

He never shall be shamed. 

VIII. 
" Lo, the leader in these glorious wars 
Now to glorious burial slowly borne, 
Follow'd by the brave of other lands. 
He on whom from both her open hands 
Lavish Honour shower'd all her stars, 
And affluent Fortune emptied all her horn. 
Yea, let all good things await 
Him who cares not to be great. 
But as he saves or serves the state. 
Not once or twice in our rough island-story, 
The path of duty was the way to glory : 
He that walks it, only thirsting 
For the right, and learns to deaden 
Love of self, before his journey closes. 
He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting 
Into glossy purples, which outredden 
All voluptuous garden-roses. 



472 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Tennyson. Not oiicG or twicG in our fair island-story, 

The path of duty was the way to glory : 
He, that ever following her commands. 
On with toil of heart and knees and hands, 
Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won 
His path upward, and prevailed, 
Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scaled 
Are close upon the shining table-lands 
To which our God Himself is moon and sun. 
Such was he : his work is done. 
But while the races of mankind endure, 
Let his great example stand 
Colossal, seen of every land, 
And keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure, 
Till in all lands and thro' all human story 
The path of duty be the way to glory : 
And let the land whose hearths he saved from shame 
For many and many an age proclaim 
At civic revel and pomp and game, 
And when the long-illumined cities flame. 
Their ever-loyal iron leader's fame. 
With honour, honour, honour, honour to him. 
Eternal honour to his name. 

IX. 

" Peace, his triumph will be sung 
By some yet unmoulded tongne 
Far on in summers that we shall not see : 
Peace, it is a day of pain 
For one about whose patriarchal knee 
Late the little children clung : 
peace, it is a day of pain 
For one, upon whose hand and heart and brain 
Once the weight and fate of Europe hung. 
Ours the pain, be his the gain ! 
More than is of man's degree 
Must be with us, watching here 
At this, our great solemnity. 
Whom we see not we revere ; 



WATEELOO POETEY. 473 

We revere, and we refrain Tennyson, 

From talk of battles loud and vain, 

And brawling memories all too free 

For such a wise humility 

As befits a solemn fane : 

We revere, and while we hear 

The tides of Music's golden sea 

Setting toward eternity, 

Uplifted high in heart and hope are we. 

Until we doubt not that for one so true 

There must be other nobler work to do 

Than when he fought at Waterloo, 

And victor he must ever be. 

For tho' the Giant Ages heave the hill. 

And break the shore, and evermore 

Make and break, and work their will ; 

Tho' world on world in myriad myriads roll 

Eound us, each with different powers. 

And other forms of life than ours, 

What know we greater than the soul ? 

On Grod and Godlike men we build our trust. 

Hush, the Dead March wails in the people's ears : 

The dark crowd moves, and there are sobs and tears ; 

The black earth yawns ; the mortal disappears ; 

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust ; 

He is gone who seem'd so great. — 

Gone ; but nothing can bereave him 

Of the force he made his own 

Being here, and we believe him 

Something far advanced in State, 

And that he wears a truer ci'own 

Than any wreath that man can weave him. 

Speak no more of his renown, 

Lay your earthly fancies down. 

And in your vast cathedral leave him. 

God accept him, Christ receive him." 

Napoleon, three weeks before his death, had "written Thackeray, 
entirely by my hand," as he said, a codicil to his will— 



474 QQATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Thackeraj'. " I clesiie that my ashes shall repose on the banks of 
the Seine, m tlie midst of the French people whom I 
loved so well." While the unmitigated Bourbons swayed 
Prance no regard was paid to the wish of the dying 
Emperor. But when Louis Philippe was upon the 
throne, and Thiers had become prime minister, applica- 
tion was made to the British Government for the neces- 
sary permission, and Lord Palmerston made this grace- 
ful reply : — 

" The Grovernment of her Britannic Majesty hopes that the 
promptness of its answer may be considered in France as a 
proof of its desire to blot out the last trace of those national 
animosities which, during the life of the Emperor, armed 
France and England against each other. The British govern- 
ment hopes that, if such sentiments survive anywhere, they 
may be buried in the tomb about to receive the remains of 
Napoleon." '^ 

At the time of the arrival of Napoleon's body in 
France and of the splendid ceremonial attending its 

^^ Lord Palmerston's speaking Napoleon's death. At tliat time 
of "the Emperor" and " Napoleon" the officers of his St. Helena house- 
in an official despatch marked the hold had a gravestone prepared, with 
change of English sentiment since the inscription, 



NAPOLEON. 

Born at Ajaccio the 15TH of August, 1769. 
Died at St. Helena the 5th op Mat, 1821. 



This Sir Hudson Lowe — " by name, any other words than " General 

and ah ! by Nature, so " — refused Bonaparter Byron recorded the 

them permission to place over his incident in The Age of Bronze, when 

grave, saying that the British Govern- referring to St. Helena as Napoleon's 

ment — Lord Liverpool being still burial-place : — 
premier — had forbidden the use of 

" His jailer, duteous to the last, 

Scarce deem'd his coffin's lid could keep him fast, 

Refusing one poor line along the lid 

To date tlie birth and death of all it hid." 



WATEELOO POETEY, 



475 



being placed in the Hotel cles Invalides (December 15, Tiiack- 
1840) Thackeray was in Paris. Much no doubt was 
going on about him to suggest the retrospect which he 
traces out so vividly in the most elaborate and sustained 
of all his ballads, The Chronicle of the Drum. So far as 
could be supposed then — for no imagination except 
Prince Louis Napoleon's could at that time have formed 
an idea of the Second Empire — the Napoleonic Legend 
had been completed, and it only remained to record it. 
This, and also the long train of preparatory events 
which had rendered Napoleonism possible, Thackeray 
set forth, putting the story into the mouth of his Drum- 
mer, who, in his own person or represented in his 
ancestors, had played, he was thoroughly assured, no 
mean part in the glories and vicissitudes of France 
from the splendid days of Louis XIV to the downfall of 
Napoleon. ^^ 



^^ For those who find it mterest- 
ing to trace the growth of a notable 
poem it will be worth while to turn 
back from Thackeray's Chronicle 
to Heine's Ideas — Book Le Grand, 
published in 1826, In his seventh 
chapter the narrator has given his 
boyish recollection of " the French 
Drummer who was so long quartered 
in our house [at Diisseldorf], who 
looked like the Devil, and yet had 
the good heart of an angel, and who 
above all this drummed so divinely." 
This genius, Heine says, knew no 
German, yet made himself under- 
stood. " For instance, if I knew not 
what the word liberie meant, he 
drummed the Marseillaise — and I 
vmderstood him. If I did not under- 
stand the word egalite, he drummed 
the march, 

" ' Qa ira, 9a ira, 9a ira, 

Les aristocrats a la Lanterne ! ' 



... In like manner he taught me 
modern history. I did not under- 
stand, it is true, the words which he 
spoke, but, as he constantly drummed 
while speaking, I understood him, 
. . , The history of the storming of 
the Bastile, of the Tuileries, and the 
like, cannot be correctly understood 
until we know how the drumming 
was done on such occasions. . . . 
When you hear the red march of 
the guillotine drummed you under- 
stand it correctly for the first time, 
and, with it, the how and the why." 
Heine drops Drummer Le Grand in 
this seventh chapter, but in the tenth 
relates how, revisiting Diisseldorf 
in after years, he fell asleep on a 
bench in the Court-garden and 
dreamed of a band of French sol- 
diers returning from Siberian prisons. 
" Singularly enough, they were pre- 
ceded by a drummer, who tottered 
along with a drum, and I shuddered 



476 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

eray. " ThE ChRONICLE OF THE DrUM. 

PART I. 

" At Paris, hard by the Maine barriers, 

Whoever will choose to repair, 
Midst a dozen of wooden-legged warriors 

May haply fall in with old Pierre. 
On the sunshiny bench of a tavern 

He sits and he prates of old wars. 
And moistens his pipe of tobacco 

With a drink that is named after Mars. 

as I recalled tlie old legend of soldiers drummer at their head, marched 

who had fallen in battle, and who by back to their native city. And of 

night, rising again from their graves them the old ballad sings thus : — 
on the battlefield, and with the 

" '■ He beat on the drum with might and main, 
To their old night-quarters they go again ; 
Through the lighted street they come ; 
Trallerie — trallerei — trallera, 
They march before sweetheart's home. 

" ' Thus the dead return ere break of day, 
Like tombstones white in their cold array, 
And the drummer he goes before ; 
Trallerie — trallerei — trallera, 
And we see them come no more.' " 

In the spectre drummer the dreamer out its inner soul. I heard once 
recognises Le Grand. "He too re- more the cannon thunder, the whist- 
cognised me, and drew me to the ling of balls, the riot of battle, the 
turf, and we sat down together as death-rage of the Guard — I saw 
of old, when he taught me on the once more the waving flags, agam 
drum French and Modern History. the Emperor on his steed. . . . Le 
He had still the well-known old Grand's eyes opened spirit-like and 
drum, and I could not sufficiently wide, and I saw in them nothing 
wonder how he had preserved it from but a broad white field of ice 
Russian plunderers. And he drummed covered with corpses — it was the 
again as of old, but without speak- battle of Moscow." The passage is 
ing a word. . . . He drummed, as longer and is poetic in its ending ; 
before, the old battles, the deeds of but enough has been written to 
the Emperor, and it seemed as show the germ of the Chronicle of 
though the drum itself were a living the Drmn fifteen years before Thack- 
creature which rejoiced to speak eray elaborated it so admirably. It 



WATERLOO POETRY. 477 

" The beer makes his tongue run the quicker, Thackeray. 

And as long as his tap never fails, 
Thus over his favourite liquor 

Old Peter will tell his old tales. 
Says he, ' In my life's ninety summers 

Strange changes and chances I've seen, — 
So here's to all gentlemen drummers 

That ever have thump'd on a skin. 

" Brought up in the art military 
For four generations we are ; 
My ancestors drumm'd for King Harry, 
The Huguenot lad of Navarre. 

may also be compared with what with a harsh miity that stamped 

have already been referred to as them as the voices of veterans in 

"spectral poems." = Heine, again, war, woke me from my reverie, and 

had been anticipated by the English made my heart throb. Never did I 

oainter, B. R. Haydon, who, visiting hear such drums before ; there were 

Pontainebleau in 1814, during Na- years of battle and blood in every 

poleon's Elban exile, made a note sound." = In contrast with these ce- 

that might ser\'e as Thackeray's lebrationsofthedrummay be quoted 

text : — " The evening was delicious ; a Uttle piece by a copious but well- 

the fountain worthy of Armida's nigh forgotten writer of the last cen- 



ien ; the poetry of my mind un- tury — John Scott, of Amwell, said to 
earthly for the time ; when the have been the only English Quaker 
crash of the Imperial drums, beating poet previous to Bernard Barton : — 

" Ode on Hearing the Detjji, 

" I hate that drum's discordant soimd, 

Paradiug roimd, and round, and round : 

To thoughtless youth it pleasure yields. 

And lures from cities and from fields, 

To sell their liberty for charms 

Of tawdry lace and glittering arms ; 

And when Ambition's voice commands. 
To march, and fight, and fall in foreign lands. 

•' I hate that drum's discordant sound, 

Parading round, and round, and round: 

To me it talks of ravaged plains. 

And burning towns, and ruined swains. 

And mangled limbs, and dying groans. 

And widows' tears, and orphans' moans ; 

And all that misery's hand bestows 
To hU the catalogue of human woes," 



47^ QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Thackeray. And as each man in life has his station 

According as Fortune may fix, 
While Conde was waving the baton, 
My grandsire was trolling the sticks. 

" Ah ! those were the days for commanders ! 

W^hat glories my grandfather won, 
Ere bigots, and lackeys, and panders 

The fortunes of France had undone ! 
In Germany, Flanders, and Holland, — 

What foeman resisted us then ? 
No ; my grandsire was ever victorious, 

My grandsire and Monsieur Turenne. 

" He died : and our noble battalions 

The jade fickle Fortune forsook ; 
And at Blenheiin, in spite of our valiance, 

The victory lay with Malbrook. 
The news it was brought to King Louis ; 

Corbleu ! how his Majesty swore 
When he heard they had taken my grandsire, 

And twelve thousand gentlemen more. 

" At Namur, Eamillies, and Malplaquet, 

Were we posted, on plain or in trench : 
Malbrook only need to attack it 

And away from him scamper'd we French. 
Cheer up ! 'tis no use to be glum, boys, — 

'Tis written, since fighting begun. 
That sometimes we fight and we conquer, 

And sometimes we fight and we run. 

" To fight and to run was our fate : 

Our fortune and fame had departed. 
And so perish'd Louis the Great, — 

Old, lonely, and half broken-hearted. 
His cofSn they pelted with mud, 

His body they tried to lay hands on ; 
And so, having buried King Louis, 

They loyally served his great-grandson 



WATEELOO POETRY. 479 

" God save the beloved King Louis ! Thackemy. 

(For so he was nicknamed by some,) 
And now came my father to do his 

King's orders and beat on the drum. 
My grandsire was dead, but his bones 

Must have shaken, I'm certain, for joy, 
To hear daddy drumming the English 

From the meadows of famed Fontenoy. 

" So well did he drum in that battle 

That the enemy showed us their backs ; 
Corbleu ! it was pleasant to rattle 

The sticks, and to follow old Saxe ! 
We next had Soubise as a leader. 

And as luck hath its changes and fits. 
At Eossbach, in spite of dad's drumming, 

'Tis said we were beaten by Fritz. 

" And now daddy cross'd the Atlantic, 

To drum for Montcalm and his men ; 
Morbleu ! but it makes a man frantic 

To think we were beaten again ! 
My daddy he cross'd the wide ocean. 

My mother brought me on her neck. 
And we came in the year fifty-seven 

To guard the good town of Quebec. 

"In the year fifty-nine came the Britons, — 

Full well I remember the day, — 
They knocked at our gate for admittance, 

Their vessels were moored in our bay. 
Says our general, ' Drive me yon red-coats 

Away to the sea whence they come ! ' 
So we march 'd against Wolfe and his bull-dogs, 

We marched at the sound of the drum. 

" I think I can see my poor mammy 
With me in her hand as she waits. 
And our regiment, slowly retreating, 
Pours back through the citadel gates. 



480 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Thackeraj-. Dear mammy, she looks in their faces, 

And asks if her husband is come ? 
— He is lying all cold on the glacis. 

And will never more beat on the drum. 

" Come, drink, 'tis no use to be glum, boys, 

He died like a soldier in glory ; 
Here's a glass to the health of all drum-boys, 

And now I'll commence my own story. 
Once more did we cross the salt ocean. 

We came in the year eighty-one ; 
And the wrongs of my father the drummer 

Were avenged by the drummer, his son. 

*' In Chesapeake Bay we were landed ; 

In vain strove the British to pass ; 
Rochambeau our armies commanded, 

Our ships they were led by De Grrasse. 
Morbleu ! how I rattled the drumsticks 

The day we march'd into Yorktown ; 
Ten thousand of beef-eating British 

Their weapons we caused to lay down. 

" Then homeward returning victorious, 

In peace to our country we came. 
And were thanked for our glorious actions 

By Louis Sixteenth of the name. 
W^hat drummer on earth could be prouder 

Than I while I drummed at Versailles 
To the lovely court ladies in powder. 

And lappets, and long satin tails ? 

" The princes that day pass'd before us. 

Our countrymen's glory and hope ; 
Monsieur, who was learned in Horace, 

D'Artois, who could dance the tight-rope. 
One night we kept guard for the Queen, 

At her Majesty's opera box, 
While the King, that majestical monarch. 

Sat filing at home at his locks. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 48 1 

" Yes, I drumm'd for the fair Antoinette, Thackeray, 

And so smiling she looked and so tender. 
That our officers, privates, and drummers 

All vow'd they would die to defend her. 
But she eared not for us, honest fellows. 

Who fought and who bled in her wars ; 
She sneered at our gallant Eochambeau, 

And turned La Fayette out of doors. 

" Ventrebleu ! then I swore a great oath 

No more to such tyrants to kneel, 
And so, just to keep up my drumming, 

One day I drumm'd down the Bastille. 
Ho, landlord, a stoup of fresh wine : 

Come, comrades, a bumper we'll try. 
And drink to the year eighty-nine. 

And the glorious fourth of July ! 

" Then bravely our cannon it thunder'd, 

As onwards our patriots bore ; 
Our enemies were but a hundred. 

And we twenty thousand or more. 
They carried the news to King Louis, 

He heard it as calm as you please. 
And, like a majestical monarch. 

Kept filing his locks and his keys. 

" We show'd our republican courage, 

We storm'd and we broke the great gate in. 
And we murder'd the insolent governor, 

For daring to keep us a-waiting. 
Lambesc and his squadrons stood by, 

They never stirr'd finger or thumb ; 
The saucy aristocrats trembled 

As they heard the republican drum. 

" Hurrah ! what a storm was a-brewing : 
The day of our vengeance was come ! 
Through scenes of what carnage and ruin 
Did I beat on the patriot drum ! 
I I 



482 QUATRE BRAS, LIQNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Let's drink to the fam'd tenth of August : 

At midnight I beat the tattoo, 
And woke up the pikemen of Paris 

To follow the bold Barbaroux. 

" With pipes, and with shouts, and with torches 

March'd onwards our dusty battalions, 
And we girt the tall castle of Louis, 

A million of tatterdemalions ! 
We storm'd the fair gardens where tower'd 

The walls of his heritage splendid. 
Ah, shame on him, craven and coward, 

That had not the heart to defend it ! 

" With the crown of his sires on his head, 

His nobles and knights by his side. 
At the foot of his ancestors' palace 

'Twere easy, methinks, to have died. 
But no ; when we burst through his barriers, 

'Mid heaps of the dying and dead. 
In vain through the chambers we sought him ; 

He had turn'd like a craven and fled. 

" You all know the Place de la Concorde, 

'Tis hard by the Tuileries wall ; 
'Mid terraces, fountains, and statues. 

There rises an obelisk tall. 
There rises an obelisk tall. 

All garnished and gilded the base is: 
'Tis sm-ely the gayest of all 

Our beautiful city's gay places. 

" Around it are gardens and flowers, 

And the Cities of France on their thrones. 
Each crown'd with his circlet of flowers. 

Sit watching this biggest of stones ! 
I love to go sit in the sun there. 

The flowers and fountains to see. 
And to think of the deeds that were done there 

In the glorious year ninety-three. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 483 

" Twas here stood the Altar of Freedom, Thackeray. 

And though neither marble nor gilding 
Was used in those days to adorn 

Our simple repubHcan building, 
Corbleu ! but the Mere Guillotine 

Cared little for splendour or show. 
So you gave her an axe and a beam, 

And a plank and a basket or so. 

" Awful, and proud, and erect, 

Here sat our republican goddess ; 
Each morning her table we decked 

With dainty aristocrats' bodies. 
The people each day flocked around 

As she sat at her meat and her wine : 
'Twas always the use of our nation 

To witness the sovereign dine. 

" Young virgins with fair golden tresses, 

Old silver-hair'd prelates and priests, 
Dukes, marquises, barons, princesses. 

There splendidly served at her feasts. 
Ventrebleu ! but we pamper'd our ogress 

With the best that our nation could bring, 
And dainty she grew in her progress, 

And called for the head of a king ! 

" She called for the blood of our King, 

And straight from his prison we drew him ; 
And to her with shouting we led him. 

And took him, and bound him, and slew him. 
' The monarchs of Em-ope against me 
Have plotted a godless alliance : 
I'll fling them the head of King Louis,' 
She said, 'as my gage of defiance.' 

" I see him as now, for a moment, 
Away from his gaolers he broke ; 
And stood at the foot of the scaffold. 

And lingered, and fain would have spoke. 
I r 2 



4^4 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

' Ho, drummer ! quick ! silence yon Capet,' 
Says Santerre, ' with a beat of your drum.' 
Lustily then did I tap it 

And the son of St. Louis was dumb. 



PART II. 

" The glorious days of September 

Saw many aristocrats fall ; 
'Twas then that our pikes drunk the blood 

In the beautiful breast of Lamballe — 
Pardi, 'twas a beautiful lady ! 

I seldom have looked on her like ; 
And I drumm'd for a gallant procession. 

That marched with her head on a pike. 

" Let's show the pale head to the Queen, 

We said — she'll remember it well. 
She looked from the bars of her prison. 

And shriek'd as she saw it, and fell. 
We set up a shout at her screaming. 

We laugh'd at the fright she had shown 
At the sight of the head of her minion ; 

How she'd tremble to part with her own ! 

" We had taken the head of King Capet, 

We called for the blood of his wife ; 
Undaunted she came to the scaffold. 

And bared her fair neck to the knife. 
As she felt the foul fingers that touched her 

She shrank, but she deigned not to speak ; 
She look'd with a royal disdain, 

And died with a blush on her cheek ! 

" 'Twas thus that our country was saved ; 

So told us the safety committee ! 
But psha ! I've the heart of a soldier, 

All gentleness, mercy, and pity : 
I loathed to assist at such deeds, 

And my drum beat its loudest of tunes 
As we offered to justice offended 

The blood of the bloody tribunes. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 485 

" Away with such foul recollections ! Th ackera y. 

No more of the axe and the block ; 
I saw the last fight of the sections, 

As they fell 'neath our guns at Saint Eock. 
Young BONAPAETE led us that day : 

When he sought the Italian frontier, 
I follow'd my gallant young captain, 

I follow'd him many a long year. 

" We came to an army in rags ; 

Our general was but a boy 
When we first saw the Austrian flags 

Flaunt proud in the fields of Savoy. 
In the glorious year ninety-six, 

We march'd to the banks of the Po ; 
I carried my drum and my sticks, 

And we laid the proud Austrian low. 

" In triumph we entered Milan, 

We seized on the Mantuan keys ; 
The troops of the Emperor ran, 

And the Pope he fell down on his knees."— 
Pierre's comrades here called a fresh bottle, 

And clubbing together their wealth, 
They drank to the army of Italy, 

And Greneral Bonaparte's health. 

The drummer now bared his old breast. 

And show'd us plenty of scars, 
Rude presents that Fortune had made him 

In fifty victorious wars. 
" This came when I follow'd bold Kleber — 

'Twas shot by a Mameluke gun ; 
And this from an Austrian sabre. 

When the field of Marengo was won. 

" My forehead has many deep furrows. 
But this is the deepest of all : 
A Bruns wicker made it at Jena 
Beside the fair river of Saal 



486 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATEELOO. 

This cross, 'twas tlie Emperor gave it 
(Grod bless him !) it covers a blow ; 

I had it at Austerlitz fight, 

As I beat on my drum in the snow. 

" 'Twas thus that we conquer'd and fought ; 

But wherefore continue the story ? 
There's never a baby in France 

But has heard of our chief and our glory,- 
But has heard of our chief and our fame, 

His sorrows and triumphs can tell, 
How bravely Napoleon conquer'd. 

How bravely and sadly he fell. 

" It makes my old heart to beat higher, 

To think of the deeds that I saw ; 
I foUow'd bold Ney through the fire, 

And charged at the side of Murat." 
And so did old Peter continue 

His story of twenty brave years ; 
His audience follow'd with comments-^ 

Eude comments of curses and tears. 

He told how the Prussians in vain 

Had died in defence of their land ; 
His audience laugh'd at the story. 

And vow'd that their captain was grand ! 
He had fought the red English, he said, 

In many a battle of Spain ; 
They cursed the red English, and prayed 

To meet them and fight them again. 

He told them how Russia was lost. 

Had winter not driven them back. 
And his company cursed the quick frost, 

And doubly they cursed the Cossack. 
He told how the stranger arrived ; 

They wept at the tale of disgrace ; 
And they long'd but for one battle more, 

The stain of their shame to efface. 



WATEELOO POETEY. 487 

" Our country their hordes overrun ; Thackeray . 

We fled to the fields of Champagne, 
And fought them, though twenty to one, 

And beat them again and again ! 
Our warrior was conquer'd at last ; 

They bade him his crown to resign ; 
To fate and his country he yielded 

The rights of himself and his line. 

" He came, and among us he stood, 

Around him we press'd in a throng : 
We could not regard him for wee^jing, 

Who had led us and loved us so long. 
' I have led you for twenty long years,' 

Napoleon said, ere he went ; 
* Wherever was honour I found you. 

And with you, my sons, am content ! 

" ' Though Europe against me was armed. 
Your chiefs and my people are true ; 
I still might have struggled with fortune. 
And baffled all Europe with you. 

" ' But France would have suffer 'd the while, 
'Tis best that I suffer alone ; 
I go to my place of exile. 

To write of the deeds we have done. 

" * Be true to the king that they give you. 
We may not embrace ere we part ; 
But, Greneral, reach me your hand. 
And press me, I pray, to your heart. ' 

" He call'd for our old battle standard ; 

One kiss to the eagle he gave ; 
' Dear eagle,' he said, ' may this kiss 

Long sound in the hearts of the brave ! ' 
'Twas thus that Napoleon left us ; 

Our people were weeping and mute, 
As he passed through the lines of his Gruard, 
And our drums beat the notes of salute. 



488 QUATRE BHAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO, 

Thackeray. " I look'cl, when the drumming was o'er, 

I looked, but our hero was gone ; 
We were destined to see him once more, 

When we fought on the Mount of St. John. 
The Emperor rode through our files : 

'Twas June, and a fair Sunday morn ; 
The lines of our warriors for miles 

Stretch'd wide through the Waterloo corn. 

" In thousands we stood on the plain. 

The red-coats were crowning the height ; 
' Gro scatter yon English,' he said ; 

' We'll sup, lads, at Brussels to-night.' 
We answered his voice with a shout ; 
Our eagles were bright in the sun ; 
Our drums and our cannon spoke out, 
And the thundering battle begun. 

" One charge to another succeeds, 

Like waves that a hurricane bears ; 
All day do our galloping steeds 

Dash fierce on the enemy's squares. 
At noon we began the fell onset ;' 

We charged up the Englishman's hill, 
And madly we charged it at sunset— 

His banners were floating there still. 

" Go to ! I will tell you no more ; 

You know how the battle was lost. 
Ho ! fetch me a beaker of wine. 

And, comrades, I'll give you a toast. 
I'll give you a curse on all traitors. 

Who plotted our Emperor's ruin ; 
And a curse on those red-coated English, 

Whose bayonets help'd our undoing. 

" A curse on those British assassins, 
Who order'd the slaughter of Ney ; 
A curse on Sir Hudson, who tortured 
The life of our hero away. 



WATERLOO POETRY. 489 

A curse on all Eussians — I hate them — Thackeray. 

On all Prussian and Austrian fry ; ~ 

And oh ! but I pray we may meet them, 

And fight them again ere I die." 

'Twas thus old Peter did conclude 

His chronicle with curses fit ; 
He spoke the tale in accents rude. 

In ruder verse I copied it. 

Perhaps the tale a moral bears, 

(All tales in time to this must come). 
The story of two hundred years 

Writ on the parchment of a drum. 

What Peter told with drum and stick 

Is endless theme for poets' pen ; 
Is found in endless quartos thick, 

Enormous books by learned men. 

And ever since historian writ, 

And ever since a bard could sing, 
Doth each exalt with all his wit 

The noble art of murdering. 

We love to read the glorious page. 

How bold Achilles killed his foe ; 
And Turnus, fell'd by Trojan's rage. 

Went howling to the shades below ; 

How Grodfrey led his red-cross knights. 

How mad Orlando slash'd and slew : 
There's not a single bard that writes 

But doth the glorious theme renew. 

And while, in fashion picturesque. 

The poet rhymes of blood and blows, 
The grave historian at his desk 

Describes the same in classic prose. 

Gro read the works of Eeverend Cox, 

You'll duly see recorded there 
The history of the self-same knocks 

Here roughly sung by Drummer Pierre. 



490 QUATRE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Of battles fierce and warriors big, 
He writes in phrases dull and slow, 

And waves his cauliflower wig, 

And shouts " Saint Greorge for Marlborow ! " 

Take Doctor Southey from the shelf. 

An LL.D., — a peaceful man ; 
Good Lord, how doth he plume himself 

Because we beat the Corsican ! 

From first to last his page is filled 

With stirring tales how blows were struck ; 

He shows how we the Frenchmen kill'd, 
And praises Grod for our good luck. 

Some hints, 'tis true, of politics 

The doctors give, and statesman's art : 

Pierre only bangs his drum and sticks. 
And understands the bloody part. 

He cares not what the cause may be. 
He is not nice for wrong and right ; 

But show him where's the enemy. 
He only asks to drum and fight. 

They bid him ;fight, — perhaps he wins. 

And when he tells the story o'er. 
The honest savage brags and grins. 

And only longs to fight once more. 

But luck may change, and valour fail. 
Our drummer, Peter, meets reverse. 

And with a moral points his tale — 
The end of all such tales — a curse. 

Last year, my love, it was my hap 

Behind a grenadier to be. 
And, but he wore a hairy cap, 

No taller man, methinks, than me. 

Prince Albert and the Queen, Grod wot, 
(Be blessings on the glorious pair !) 

Before us passed ; I saw them not, 
I only saw a cap of hair. 



WATEELOO POETKY. 49 1 

Your orthodox historian puts Thackeray. 

In foremost rank the soldier thus, 
The red-coat bully in his boots, 

That hides the march of men from us. 

He puts him there in foremost rank ; 

You wonder at his cap of hair ; 
You hear his sabre's cursed clank. 

His spurs are jingling everywhere. 

Gro to ! I hate hini and his trade : 

Who bade us so to cringe and bend, 
And all Grod's peaceful people made 

To such as him subservient ? 

Tell me what find we to admire 

In epaulets and scarlet coats : 
In men, because they load and fire, 

And know the art of cutting throats ? 



Ah, gentle, tender lady mine ! 

The winter wind blows cold and shrill. 
Come, fill me one more glass of wine, 

And give the silly fools their will. 

And what care we for war and wrack, 
How kings and heroes rise and fall ? 

Look yonder, in his coffin black. 

There lies the greatest of them all ! 

To pluck him down, and keep him up. 
Died many million human souls. 

'Tis twelve o'clock, and time to sup ; 
Bid Mary heap the fire with coals. 

He captured many thousand guns ; 

He wrote " The Grreat " before his name ; 
And dying, only left his sons 

The recollection of his shame. 



492 QUATEE BRAS, LIGNY, AND WATERLOO. 

Thackeray. Though more than half the world was his, 

He died without a rood his own, 
And borrow'd from his enemies 
Six foot of ground to lie upon. 

He fought a thousand glorious wars, 
And more than half the world was his, 

And somewhere now, in yonder stars. 
Can tell, mayhap, what greatness is. 

Macauiaj. Until after Lord Macaulay's death it was not gene- 

rally known that he had been among the poets of 
Waterloo, except on the occasion of his unsuccessful 
University prize-poem, already mentioned. ^° His having 
written other verses on the subject was disclosed by a 
London publisher, Mr. John Camden Hotten, who ad- 
dressed to the Athenc&um a letter in which he spoke of 
Macaulay's juvenile poems, and said in particular that 
" The memorable defeat of Napoleon engaged his youth- 
ful attention, and the family received from his pen a 
poem entitled Waterloo, and another An InscrijJtion for 
the Colmrm of Wateiioo, on occasion of the obelisk being 
erected on the famous battlefield." These and other 
productions, it was added, were contained in " an old 
album recently discovered," and the intimation was that 
they would be published. Hereupon the solicitor to 
his executors sent to the Athenceum a communication 
which said — 

" What is called in Mr. Hotten's letter an album is, in fact, 
a manuscript belonging to a member of his lordship's family, 
and . . . the manuscript had very recently got by mistake out 
of the hands of the owner, to whom it has been since restored, 
and who has no intention of publishing any of the contents of 
the MS. which have not yet been pubHshed. Should any such 
publication be attempted by others, it would be at once 
restrained." 

^° See p. 443 ; also note 140, p. 223. 



Waterloo poetry. 493 

Macaulay's Life and Letters, published some years later Macauiay. 
(in 1876) by his nephew, G-. Otto Trevelyan, make no 
mention of this particular poem, though they refer to a 
Pindaric Ode written by him on the occasion of Napo- 
leon's flight from Eussia — when Macauiay was twelve 
years old — and a petition for a holiday which, at the 
instigation of his school-fellows, he addressed to his 
tutor on the occasion of the Allies entering Paris. This 
poem, we are told, " begins with a few sonorous and 
effective couplets, grows more and more like the parody 
on Fitzgerald in Bejected Addresses, and ends in a pero- 
ration of which the intention is unquestionably mock- 
heroic : 

" Oh, by the glorious posture of affairs, 
By the enormous price that Omnium bears, 
By princely Bom-bon's late recovered Crown, 
And by JMiss Fanny's safe return from town, 
Oh, do not thou, and thou alone, refuse 
To show thy pleasure at this glorious news ! " 

Beyond this, the biographer suppresses Macaulay's 
Waterloo poems. To them probably applies the same 
sentiment as to his still more juvenile jDroductions — 
" The affection of the last generation of his relatives 
has preserved all these poems, but the piety of this 
generation will refrain from submitting them to public 
criticism. A marginal note, in which Macauiay has 
expressed his cordial approval of Uncle Toby's remark 
about the great Lipsius, indicates his own wishes in the 
matter too clearly to leave any choice for those who 
come after him."^^ 

^^ The great Lipsius was referred " ' those prodigies of childhood in 

to on an occasion when the paternal Grotius, Scioppius, Heiusius, Po- 

Shandy was consoling himself after litian, Pascal, Joseph Scaliger, Fer- 

one of the infantile Tristram's mis- dinand de Oordue, and others. . . . 

adventures. He has spoken of Others were masters of fourteen 



494 QUATRE BRAS, LlGNY, AND WATERLOO. 



Maccaulay. languages at ten [years old],— 

finished the course of their rhetoric, 

poetry, logic, and ethics, at eleven, — 
put forth their commentaries upon 
Servius and Martiauus OapeUa at 
twelve, — and at thirteen received 
their degrees in philosophy, laws, 



and divinity.' — ' But you forget the 
great Lipsius,' quoth Yorick, ' who 
composed a work the day he was 
born.'" Uncle Toby's remark was 
a sententious one as to the proper 
disposal of the ''work" in question. 
— Tristram Shandy, chap, clxiii. 



INDEX. 



ABB 

ABBOTT, Kev. John S. C, Ms lAfe 
of Napoleon, quotations from, 
40 H., 44 ^i., 50 ??,., Ill n., 130%., 
339 n., 360 n., 398 »i. 
Adam, Maj.-Gen., commander 3d 
British brigade, 21 ; his position at 
Waterloo, 204; brought his troops 
into the first line, 319, 321, 322, 
335 ; repulsed the French, 321,322, 
335 ; encountered the charge of the 
Imperial Guard, 363-370 ; led the 
general Allied advance, 369, 370, 

374, 378, 380-383. 

Albemarle, Earl of, his Fifty Years 
of 3Ty Life, quotations from, 1 7 n., 
59 '*■•» 73 ^- J 218 n., 220 n., 248 n., 
330 ft., 334 M., 411-413?!. ; on the 
rawness of the British troops, 17 n., 
330 n., 334 n. ; the character of the 
Prince of Orange, 59 n. ; the Duke 
of Brunswick and liis troops, 73 01.; 
Napoleon's delay in beginning the 
battle of Waterloo, 220 n. ; Picton's 
death, 248 n. ; French artillery fire, 
330 11. ; mistaken uniforms of the 
Dutch-Belgians, 334 n. ; the French 
political burlesque, Les CameUons, 
411-413 n. 

Alexander I., Czar of Russia, his 
invention of the Holy Alliance, 
408 n. 

Alison, Sir Archibald, Ms History of 
Europe, quotations from, 7 n. , 65 11. , 
254 '«., 256 n., 368 «., 378 11., 409 ??. ; 
statement of Bi-itish subsidies to 
Allied Powers, 7 n. ; his ignorance 
about the battle of Quatre Bras, 
65 n. ; of Waterloo, 254 n., 256 ». ; 
his summary of the second Treaty 
of Paris (Nov. 20, 1815), 409 n. 

Alix, Gen., commander of ist French 
division, 25 ; liis division com- 
manded by Quiot at Waterloo, 
239 n. (See Quiot.) 

Allies, their declaration of outlawry 



ARM 

against Napoleon, 5, 6 ; military 
measures, 6, 7, 7 n. , 8 w. ; proceed- 
ings after Waterloo, 405, 407-409 ; 
armies of. (See Aemies.) 

Alten, Lt.-Gen. Count, commander 
3d Anglo- Allied division, 21 ; his 
position at Waterloo, 203 ; repulsed 
Bachelu's attack, 272 ; prepared 
for French cavalry charges, 281 ; 
resistance to them, 284-298 ; as- 
saults upon, from La Haye Sainte, 
324-326, 327-333> 368; wounded, 
328; Ms division driven back, 
291 ?t., 329-331 ; recovered its posi- 
tion, 332, 333. 

American Oyclopcedia, its imsstate- 
ment of Ney's conduct at Quatre 
Bras, 65 n. 

Anglesea, Mai'quis of (see Ux- 
bridge.) 

Arentsschildt, Col. Sir F. von, com- 
mander 7th British cavalry brigade, 
22 ; his position at Waterloo, 205 ; 
resisted French cavalry charges, 

309- 
ARMIES :— 

Allied, their strength in June 1815, 
8 n. ; army of occupation in 
France after Waterloo, 409 n. 
Anglo- Allied, strength of, at be- 
ginning of the campaign, 8 n., 
20 ; stationed in Belgium be- 
fore the war, 11, 12 w.; com- 
mand of, resigned by the Prince 
of Orange in favour of Wel- 
lington, 13^1. ; position and 
duties, 1 3-1 5 ; detailed list of, 
21-23 ; diversity of nation- 
alities, discipline, &c., com- 
prised in, 16, 20, 198 ; slovenly 
organisation and administra- 
tion, 40 ?«., 67 ?z., 109 w., 117, 
190, 202, 207 «., 292, 294, 313, 
314, 340, 342 n. ; quality of, in 
the aggregate, 16, 19 n., 20, 



496 INDEX, 

ARM 

Armies: — Anglo-Allied — continued 

198, 333 ?i. Strength at Quatre 
Bras, 64 n. ; haphazard arrival 
of reinforcements, 67 ?i., 117; 
losses, 88 n. Strength at Wa- 
terloo, 194, 198; losses, 406. 
British, troops of, in Belgium 
before the campaign, 12 n.; 
best regiments largely in 
America, those in the cam- 
paign mitried in war, 17, 20, 
196 ; inefficiency of the Bri- 
tish government in recruit- 
ing, 17, 18, 19, 20 ?i. ; ineffi- 
cient staff, 19, 20 n.,- 191 n., 
202, 203 «., 292, 297, 313, 
314, 340, 342 n. ; slovenly 
administration, 18 n., 67 n., 
log n., 117, 190, 206, 207 «. 
Infantry, firmness of, at 
Quatre Bras, 76 n., 196; at 
Waterloo, 197 «., 284, 2S5 n. 
Cavalry, covering the retreat 
from Quatre Bras to Water- 
loo, 130-139,196; conflict at 
Genappe, 136-138; propen- 
sity to headlong rashness, 
196, 197 71., 265, 268 ; con- 
flict of the Life Guards with 
French cuirassiers at Water- 
loo, 252-255 ; charge and 
destruction of the Union 
Brigade, 256-266 ; losses of, 
328, 332 n. ; ser-vices of the 
light brigades, 332, 363 n., 
37i-373.389.398- Artillery, 
method of eluding cavalry 
attacks, 283 ; iise of rockets 
by, 139 n., 271 H., 314. 
Strength, 23, 198. Fugi- 
tives from Waterloo, 327 n. 
Losses at Quatre Bras, 88?i. ; 
at Waterloo, 301 n., 406, 
407. Army of occupation in 
France, 409 n. 
Brunswick (see also Bruns- 
wick, Duke of), previous his- 
tory of the corps, 73 n. ; 
fantastic organisation, 74 n. ; 
strength, 23, 74 n., 198 ; 
quality, 20, 73 01., 195 n., 
285 n. ; novices in war, 70, 
285 n. Advance to Quatre 
Bras, 67 n., 70, 86 ; at the 
battle of Quatre Bras, 70, 

72, 73. 74, 76, 83, 195 n. ; 
lost their leader and fled, 

73, 74 ; losses, 88 n. ; vowed 
vengeance for their Duke, 



ARM 



Armies : — Anglo-Allied — contimied 
Brunswick — oontiiiued 

136 «., 400 n. ; reprisals in 
the pursuit of the French 
after Waterloo, 400 n. ; mur- 
dered Gen. Duhesme, 400 71. 
Position at Waterloo, 205, 
282, 285 71., 287, 297, 320, 
■ 323 ; in squares, resisting 
French cavalry charges, 282, 
297) 319. 320; brought up to 
fill break in the Allied line, 
broken, rallied, 330, 331, 
333 ; the pursuit, 400 71. ; 
losses, 406 
Dutch-Belgian, strength of, 23, 
198; formation of, before 
the campaign, 12 ?i., 17; 
command of, resigned by 
the Prince of Orange in 
favour of Wellington, 13 71. ; 
raw troops, 1 7 ; disaifected 
toward the Allied cause, 17, 
20, 79^1., 199%.; declared 
not to have been cowardly, 
by Charras, 68 w., 199 m., 
368 71. ; by Kennedy, 199 71. ; 
their conduct concealed or 
palliated by Wellington and 
his admirers, 79 71., 246 n. 
First Allied troops to en- 
counter the French at Quatre 
Bras, 46, 58, 61, 64, 79 n., 80. 
In the battle of Quatre Bras, 
65 71. ; fired upon by the 
English, from their wearing 
uniforms like the French, 
69 71. ; cavalry routed, 68, 
69 n., 76, 78 ; fled to Brussels, 
78 71., 79 n. ; infantry driven 
back, 68, 69, 78 71. ; worth- 
less, 65 ??,., 195 71., 198 ?t., 245 ; 
losses, 88 71., 406. Position at 
Waterloo, 201, 207, 294, 319, 
323 71. ; irrational exposure 
of, 201 71., 241, 245 ; fled, 245, 
246, 248 «.. ; D'Aubreme's 
brigade held back from flight 
by British cavahy, 363 71., 
373 n. Cavalrjr posted out of 
danger, 206 ; refused to take 
part in the action, 270, 289, 
309, 314 «., 323 71. ; fled from 
the field, 309, 328 71. ; took 
to pillage, 328 71. Their 
boasts of their prowess, 79 71., 
246 n., 368 71. ; claimed the 
defeat of the Guard, 368 ?;., 
Propensity to XDillage, 328 n. 



INDEX. 



497 



ARM 



ARM 



Armies : — Anglo-Allied — cantinued 
Hanoverian, strength of, 23, 198 ; 
quality of, 333 n. Subsidy- 
paid by Great Britain to- 
ward, 7 «. At Quatre Bras, 
77, 78, 80, 83 ; losses, 88 n. 
Position at Waterloo, 201, 
203, 204 ; in the battle, 226, 
270 «., 333". Halkett's bri- 
gade, position of, 204 ; came 
into the front line, 319, 322, 
333 '^-i 335 I pursued the 
Imperial Guard after its last 
charge, 368, 369, 373, 377, 
383-387, 390 ; captured Cam- 
bronne, 388 «. Cumberland- 
Hanoverian hussars, position 
of in the battle, 205 ; coward- 
ice and flight, 310, 311. 
Losses, 406. 
King's German Legion, strength 
of, 23, 198 ; admirable quality 
of, 20, 197, 199 11., 333 n. 
Position at Waterloo, 203 ; in 
the battle, 244, 249 ii , 252, 
282, 295, 296, 314, 320, 323, 
324-326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 
332, 333 ; defence of La 
Haye Sainte, 202, 242-244, 
251, 279, 292, 294, 295, 313- 
315. Cavalry, in the battle, 
286, 309, 370. Losses, 406. 
Nassau, strength of, 23, 198; 
their fidelity doubtful, 20. 
Position at Waterloo, 201, 
203, 282; defended Hougo- 
mont, 221 n., 225, 226 ; fired 
on Wellington, 221 n.; de- 
fended La Haye Saint e, 294, 
295 ; driven back in Ney's 
great infantry charge, rallied, 
regained their position, 329, 
330, 332, 333. Defended the 
eastern villages, 201, 241, 
242, 271, 304, 346, 347 n. ; 
fired upon by the Prussians, 
from their wearing French 
uniforms, 346, 347 n. Losses, 
406 
Austrian, subsidy paid by Great 
Britain toward, 7 n. ; strength 
of, for the invasion of France, 
8 n. ; proposed line of invasion, 
14 01., 344 n. ; army of occu- 
pation in France, after Water- 
loo, 409 n. 
Pmssian, subsidy granted by 
,/ Great Britain toward, 7 n. ; 
'■ strength of, at beginning of 



Armies : — Allied — continued 
Prussian — continued 

the campaign, 20 ; position 
before the war, 11, 12; posi- 
tion and duties preliminary to 
the campaign, 13, 15; detailed 
list of, 23, 24; condition and 
quality, 16 ; hatred of the 
French, 16 ; confidence in Blii- 
cher, 16, 157. Concentration 
on June 15, 37-45, 53, 54 ; 
losses in the retreat, 95 n. 
Strength at Ligny, 94 n. (see 
Battle op Ligny) ; losses, 
III n.; desertions, 112 9i. Com- 
manded by Gneisenau during 
Bliicher's disability, 113, 118. 
Change of base, and retreat to 
Wavi-e, 112-114, 118-120, Co- 
operation of, at Waterloo, ^ro- 
mised by Bliicher to Welling- 
ton, 120. Tardy pursuit by the 
French, 143-171 (and see also 
Grouchy) Cross-march from 
Wavre to Waterloo, 151-157, 
234, 235, 274. Skirmishes about 
Wavre, and battle (see also 
Battle op Wavre), 159, 162- 
166; losses at Wavre, 166 n,, 
301 '». In the battle of Water- 
loo, 157, 300-305,335-339,345- 
354. 358 n., 381, 396, 397 (see 
also Battle of Waterloo) ; 
pursued the French to Genappe 
and Charleroi, 398-404 ; mas- 
sacres of the French, 400, 
401 11. Strength at Waterloo, 
194, 304 ?i,, 349 TO. ; losses, 
301 n., 406; losses greater 
than those of the British 
armj^ 301 %., 406. Their ser- 
vices detracted from by the 
English, 301 11., 302 n., 349 n. ; 
by Scott, 301 11. ; by Pringle, 
301 re. ; by Hooper, 301 n. ; by 
Siborne, 349 n. ; opinion of 
Thiers, 349 n. ; of Jomini, 
349 re. Army of occupation 
in France, after Waterloo, 
409 n. 
R^issian, subsidy granted by 
Great Britain toward, 7 re.. ; 
strength of, for the invasion 
of France, 8 re. ; proposed line 
of invasion, 14 re., 89 re., 344 re. ; 
army of occupation in France, 
after Waterloo, 409 01. 
Spanish, subsidy granted by 
Great Britain toward, 7 71. 



K K 



498 



INDEX. 



ARM 



BAT 



Armies : — continued 

French — condition when Napoleon 
returned from Elba, 2 ; his mea- 
sures to recruit it, 3 ; its strength 
at the opening of the campaign, 
3, 9 01. ; deductions from its 
available force, 2, 9 71. Grand 
Army, strength of, 20, 26 ; de- 
tailed list of, 25, 26 ; strength at 
Quatre Bras, 64 n. ; losses, 88 n. ; 
strength at Ligny, 94 ; losses, 1 1 1 
11. ; detached with Grouchy, 128, 
143, 144 n. ; strength at Water- 
loo, 130 ?i., 194; force engrossed 
in resisting the Prussian attack, 

194 ; losses, 406, 407 ; . losses at 
Wavre, 166. Quality of the Grand 
Army, 26 m., 195 ; and sources of 
weakness, 26 n. Gav^alry, gal- 
lantry displayed at Quatre Bras, 

195 11., 281 71. ; Wellington's esti- 
mate of, 196 ?i. ; not adequately 
employed in patrolling, 167; 
conflicts with tlie British, 137, 
252, 253 ; charges upon tlie Allied 
squares at Waterloo, 281-299 ; 
their destruction, 298. Infantry, 
conduct at Quatre Bras, 195 n. ; 
at Waterloo, 255 n. ; vicious for- 
mation of, in D'Erlon's charge 
at Waterloo, 237 n. ; want of, at 
Waterloo, 305, 318. Collected at 
Philippeville, June 14th, 28 ; 
delays in movements caused by 
Napoleon, 56 «., 57 «., 114, 
115 «., 125-129, 166, 170, 218, 
219 ?i., 220; by the generals, 28, 
37, 38, 5S> ^3, 81. 84, 88, 104, 
105?*., 114, 158 w.; by lax dis- 
cipline, 54, 55, 92, 145, 157. 
Battles (see Battle op Ligny, 
OF Quatre Bras, Wavre, and 
Waterloo). In the battle of 
Quatre Bras, 65-88 ; Ligny, 95- 
I II ; the advance to Waterloo, 
130-141 ; Grouchy's march to 
Wavi-e, 143-166 ; battle of Wavre, 
163-166 ; position at Waterloo, 
209-214 ; battle of Waterloo, 
225-398 Routed, 368-398 ; pur- 
sued by the Prussians, 398-402 
The Grand Army dissolved, 402. 
(See also Imperial Guard.) 

Arndt, Ernst Moritz, patriotic songs 
of, 6 71 

Austria (see Army), war measures of, 
6, 7 ; an accomplice in the Holy 
Alliance, 408 ; Napoleon Ill's re- 
venge upon, 409 



f^AB BALLADS, quotations from, 
-*> 59 71. 

Bachelu, Gen., commander 5th infantry 
division (French), 25 ; advance on 
Quatre Bras, 46 ; his position at 
Waterloo, 211; charged with the 
taking of Hougomont, 225 ; sup- 
ported D'Erlon's grand attack, 239 ; 
checked the British cavalry charge, 
264, 265 ; attacked Hougomont, 
repelled, 272, 273 ; united with 
cavalry charges against Allied 
squares, 278 «., 296, 308, 323, 326 ; 
supported charge of the Guard, 
355%. 

Battle of Ligny, 88-1 ii ; the 
Prussian position, 88-92 ; important 
strategically, 42, 88, 89 n. ; weak 
tactically, 59, 60 n., 90, 91 n.; the 
French position, 92, 93 ; the posi- 
tion misapprehended by Wellington, 
Bliicher, and Napoleon, 93 n. ; plan 
of the battlefield, 90 ; strength of 
the two armies, 94 ; the battle, 95- 
1 1 1 ; charge of the Imperial Guard, 
103 ; interruijted by D'Erlon's 
false march, 104; is resumed, and 
determines the battle, 108-110 ; 
the Prussian retreat, 1 1 1 ; the 
losses, III %., 112 M.; Prussian de- 
sertions, 112 71. 

Battle op Quatre Bras, 57-88 ; im- 
portance of the position, 15,42 ; Ney 
moved upon it, June 15, 43, 45-47 ; 
position of the Allied troops on June 
16, 58, 59, 66; plan of the battle- 
field, 66 ; Napoleon's orders to Ney, 
61 71.-6T) 7i. ; strength of the two 
armies, 64;;. ; tlie battle, 65-88; the 
French retire, 88-89 ! the losses, 88 

Battle of Waterloo, 172.-407; a 
misnomer, 172M., 398 n. ; the posi- 
tion determined and survej^edinad- 
vanceof the campaign, 15, 139; the 
battlefield, description of, 172-192 : 
map of, 176 ; alteredsince the battle, 
178 ?i.; the armies, strength and 
quality of the Anglo- Alhed, 194, 
196-198; of the Prussian, 194, 
349 n. ; of the French, 194, 195 ; 
losses, of the Anglo- Allied, 193 n., 
301 11., 406, 407; of the Prussian, 
301 71., 406 ; of the French, 193 71., 
406, 407 ; position of the Anglo- 
Allied army, 199-208; of the French, 
209-214; diagrams showing posi- 
tion and subsequent changes, 202, 
240, 257, 282, 304, 321, 3^23, 348, 
356, 364, 371 ; alleged uncertainty 



INDEX. 



499 



BAT 



BON 



when the battle began, 222 n. ; 
Kennedy's dmsion of the battle 
into five phases, 223-225 : I. French 
attack upon Hougomont, 225-232 ; 
continued attacks, 272, 276, 279, 
292, 319, 323, 326, 334, 369, 377 ; 
attacks on the eastern villages 
(Papelotte, La Have, &c., &c.), 233, 
241, 271, 302, 335-346, 349; on La 
Haye Sainte, 242, 276, 279, 292, 
294, 313- n. Ney and D'Erlon's 
attack on the Allied left and centre, 
236-272 ; British cavalry charges, 
251-271. III. Cavahy attacks upon 
the Allied right wang, 276-299, 305, 
306. TV. Attacks upon Allied right 
and centre and capture of La Haye 
Sainte, 306-335 ; the Allied line 
broken but restored, 328-333, 340. 
V. Last charge of the Imperial 
Guard, 354-395 ; rout of the Grand 
Army, 368-398 ; Prussian attack 
on the right flank of the French, 
224 ; Billow's approach to the 
battle, 234, 235, 274 ; Blucher en- 
tered the field, 300-302 ; attacked 
the French flank, 302-305, 335 ; 
attacked Planchenoit, 304, 305,336, 
337, 350, 354 ; Zieten's attack, 339, 
345-347, 349 «■, 35° »•, 381 ; Pirch's 
attack on Planchenoit, 347, 350- 
354 ; carried the village, 353, 354, 
397 ; routed the French right 
wing, 349, 350, 354, 381, 397; 
Gneisenau pursued toward Genappe 
and Charleroi, 399-404 ; flight of 
Napoleon, 402, 404; the services of 
the Prussians underrated by the 
English, 156 n., 301 n., 302 n., 349 11. 
Battle OP "Wavke, 163-166; strength 
of the armies, 163 ; the position, 163 ; 
combats for the bridges, 163- 165 ; 
Grouchy defeated Thielmann, 165 ; 
learned the result of Waterloo, and 
retreated into France, 166 ; losses, 
167, 301 n. 
Baring, Col., commander 2d battalion 
King's German Legion, commanded 
garrison of La Haye Sainte, 202, 
242, 244, 251, 279, 292, 294, 295, 

313, 315 ; neglected by British staff, 

202, 292, 294, 313, 314; is driven 

from the position, 315 
Belgium (see Army, Dutch- Belgian, 

also Netherlands), seat of war in, 

11-16; map of, 12, 38 
Bell, Sir Charles, description of the 

soldiers of the Grand Armj', 195 n., 

423 



Benet, Capt. S. V. (U.S. Army), his 
translation of Jomini's Summart/ 
of the Campaign of 1S15, 323 n. 

Beraiiger's Les Souvenirs dto Peuple, 
extract fi-om and translation, 403 

Bernhard, Prince (see Saxe-Weimar) 

Bertrand, Grand Marshal, wrote Na- 
poleon's orders to Grouchy to pur- 
sue the Prussians, 129, 147 n. ; 
attending Napoleon in survejdng 
the Waterloo field, 142 ; tried to • 
arrest Ney's cavalry charges at 
Waterloo, 296 «.; ; held Napoleon 
on his horse in the flight from 
Waterloo, 403 n. ; accompanied 
Napoleon to Paris, 404 n. 

Brest, Col., commander 4th Hano- 
verian brigade, 22 ; his position at 
Waterloo, 201 ; in the battle, 270 n., 

333 «", 355 
Bliicher von Wahlstadt, Field-Marshal 
Prince, commander of the Prussian 
army, 23 ; repaired to the seat of 
war and made headquarters at 
Namur, 12, 13 ; his preparations for 
the campaign, 13-16; prepared for 
Napoleon's attack, 30 ; his recep- 
tion of the deserter Bourmont, 40 n. 
Before Ligny, 59, 93 7^., 94 ». ; 
his position Ijadly taken, 59, 60 n., 
90, 91, 114 ; Ms plan for the battle, 
92 ; in the battle, 98, 99, 103, 109 ; 
notified" Wellington that he must 
retreat, 109 ; headed a cavalry 
charge, 1 10 ; unhorsed and disabled, 
no, 113 n. Resumed command 
next day, 113%.; promises Welling- 
ton to support him next day in 
attacking Napoleon, 120, 121 n., 
140 ; -OTTOte to his family, 120 n. 
Eeceived from Miifiiing a scheme 
for his action in the battle of 
Waterloo, 152; his cross-march to 
Wavre, 155, 156, 157; abandoned 
Thielmann, Grouchy's attack, 155, 
163 n. Entered battlefield of 
Waterloo, 157, 300. In the battle 
(see Battle of Wateeloo). 
Directs the attack on Planche- 
noit, 336. Undertook the pursuit 
of the French, 398. Alleged meet- 
ing with Wellington at La Belle 
Alliance, 398 n. ; met him at Ge- 
nappe, 398 n. Letters to his 
family after Waterloo, 401 n. 
BjTon's hatred of, 459, 460. His 
loyalty to his allies, 163 n., 301 n. 
Bonaparte, Jerome, commander of 
6th division, 25, 45 n. ; in the ad- 



K K 2 



500 



INDEX. 



BON 



vance mth Belgium, June 15, 37 ; 
his position at Waterloo, 211; -with 
Napoleon on the morning of Water- 
loo, 220 ; charged -nith the taking of 
Hougomont, 225, 355 n. ; mth Na- 
poleon in his flight, 402 

Bonaparte, Joseph, head of provi- 
sional government, 1 1 

Borke, Gen. von, commander 9th 
Prussian brigade, 24 ; at Ligny, 
103 

Bouduin, Gen., French brigade com- 
mander, attacks Hougomont, 225- 
228 ; killed, 226 

Bourmont, Gen. L. A. V. de, deserted 
to the Allies, 39, 40 n. 

Bowring, Edgar Alfred, his transla- 
tion of Heine's poem, The Grena- 
diers, 454 

Braine-la-Leude, village of, 179, 
180%.; troops stationed at, 207; 
menaced bj^ the French, 279 ; troops 
brought to the front, 294, 319 

Brandy given to French troops before 
fighting, 217 n.; to English at 
Waterloo, 218 n. 

Brause, Gen. von, commander 7th 
Prussian brigade, 24 : at Waterloo, 

347 
Brialmont, quotations from, 7 n., 8 n., 

91 II., no H., 223 n., 237 n., 341 n., 

343. 344 ^^ - 346 ■«-, 347 n. 

Brunswick, Duke of, at Duchess of 
Richmond's ball, 50 n. ; at Quatre 
Bras, 70, 72 ; mortally wounded, 73, 
136 n. ; character of, 73 ■«., 80 n., 
136 n. ; referred to by ]B3a-on, 50 n., 
415; by Southey, 74 '«., 13671.; 
ignored by Scott, 74 n. 

Brussels, Wellington's headquarters, 
12, 13 ; before the battle, 47-52 

Bull, Maj., commanding British howit- 
zer battery, checks French attack 
on Hougomont, 226, 227 ; overcome 
by French artillerj' fire, 228 ; reno- 
vates his battery and silences Pire's 
fire, 307 

Billow von Dennewitz, Gen. Count, 
commander Prussian 4th corps, 24 ; 
his delay in meeting the invasion, 
54 n. ; expected at the battle of 
Ligny, 92, 103, 114, 117 7i. ; arrived 
after the battle, 113, 118; in the 
retreat to Wa\nL-e, 119; faulty dis- 
position at Wavre, 119, 154; march 
from Wavre to Waterloo, 152, 154, 
156, 159; toilsome passage of the 
Lasne, 156, 157, 167, 169, 221, 234, 
300 ; his approach to Waterloo 



CHA 

discovered, 150 ft., 155, 165, 234; 
entered the battle of Waterloo, 157, 
235, 300, 302 ; attacked the French 
right flank, 302-305, 335-338, 347- 
350 ; attacked and took Planche- 
noit, 336-338, 347, 348, 350-354, 
381, 396; pursued the French to- 
ward Charleroi, 399 

Bylandt, Maj. -Gen. Count de, com- 
mander 1st Dutch-Belgian brigade, 
21 ; his position at Waterloo, 201 ; 
stampede of his brigade, 245, 246 n. 

Byng, Maj. -Gen. Sir John, commander 
2d brigade British Guards, 21 ; at 
Quatre Bras, 86 ; jDOsition at Water- 
loo, 203, 285 ?i. ; defends Hougo- 
mont, 319, 323 n. 

Byron, Lord, his CMlde Harold, 417- 
422 ; quotations from, 50 %., 173 n., 
1 78 «., 41 5-4 1 7 ; Don Juan, 459-462 ; 
quotations from, 341 n. ; Age of 
Bronze, q^aotatiows from, 474 n. ; Ode 
to Napoleon Bonaparte, a^i^ n.; other 
poems on Napoleon, 418 «. ; his last 
meeting wdth Scott, 424 ; his feel- 
ings about Napoleon, 417 n., 461 ; 
about Wellington, 341 ■«., 459-465 ; 
about Bliicher, 459, 460 



CAMBRONNE, Gen., commanded 
the chasseurs of the Old Guard in 
its last charge, 367 ; retreat, 383 ; 
wounded, 384 n., 385 n. ; made 
prisoner, 384, 388 11. ; his alleged 
sajdng, " The Guard can die, but 
never surrender," 384-389 n. ; re- 
pudiated by himself, 385 n. 

Campbell, Capt., aide-de-camp to 
Gen. Adam, had the "honour" of 
firing the last gun into the retreat- 
ing French, 382 n. 

Campbell, Sir Colin, aide-de-camp to 
Wellington, with Wellington in 
final advance, 372, 378, 379 n. 

Canning, Col., on Wellington's staff, 
killed at Waterloo, 379 n. 

Carlyle, Thomas, liis Bemmiscenees, 
quotations from, 423 n., 437 ii. ; on 
Wordsworth's egotism, 423 «.. ; on 
George IV's reception at Edin- 
burgh, 437 n. 

Catiline, comparison of Napoleon to, 
404 n. 

Charleroi, Napoleon opened the 
Waterloo campaign at, June 15, 
41 ; passed through, on his flight 
after Waterloo, June 19, 404 

Charras, Gen. J. B. A., his Histoire 



INDEX. 



501 



CHA 



DUM 



de la Campagne de 1815, viii, 3 «., 
68 n. ; quotations from, xii, 9 n., 
II n., 14, 26, 31 n., 32, 41 «., 47 «., 
58 ?i., 64 ?i., 69 «.., 71 n., ^$n., 
94 ?i., 108 M., 116 n., iij n., 12271., 
126 n., 160 ?i., 201 ?i., 207,21471., 
232 n., 236 7i., 270 n., 283 «., 
291 «., 302 %., 344 w., 357 n., 368 «., 
377 "■> 396 >i., 400 ?;., 404 «., 406, 
407 ; an apologist for the 13elgians, 
ix, 68 m., 199 «., 368 '«. 

Chasse, Lieut.-Gen. Baron, commander 
3d. Dtitch- Belgian division, 21 ; 
at Braine-la-Leude at beginning of 
battle of Waterloo, 207 ; came to 
the front, 294, 319, 323 n., 334 n. ; 
curious rendering of hisname,323?i. ; 
mistaken for French, and nearly 
fired upon, 334 n. ; driven back by 
French charge from La Haye Sainte, 
330 ; declared by himself to have 
defeated the Imperial Guard, 368 n. ; 
at the front, 373 n. 

Chesney, Col. Charles C, his Water- 
loo Lectures, vii, 3 n. ; quotations 
from, 3 n., 29, 32,40 n., 50 n., 84 n., 
94 n., 109 71., 117 71., 118 »., 129 71., 
151 71., 159 71., 169, 170, 171, 197 n., 

207 71., 208 71., 219 71., 299 71., 354 71., 

356 ?i., 364 n., 367 n., 374 n. 
Clausewdtz, chief of staff toThielmann, 
on Grouchy's alleged slow march, 

Cleves, Capt., commander battery 
King's German Legion, repelled 
Bachelu's charge, 273 ; position of, 
282 ; charged by French cavalry, 283 

Clinton, Lieut.-Gen. Sir H., com- 
mander 2d British division, 21 ; 
position at Waterloo, 204, 207 «. ; 
comes up into front line, 319; his 
Jo'umal, quotations from, 207 71., 
367 71. ; withstood the last charge 
of the Imperial Guard, 368 n. 

Colborne, Col. Sir John, commanding 
52d British regiment, 364 ?^.; en- 
countered charge of the Imperial 
Guard, 364-366 ; pursued them, 
369, 370, 373. 378, 380, 382; 
his advance decisive of the battle 
and independent of Wellington, 
364, 369, 374 71. ; his services ig- 
nored by Wellington, 374 71. 

Cole, Lieut.-Gen. Hon. Sir L., com- 
mander 6th British division, 22 ; 
his position at Waterloo, 201 

Collaert, Gen., commander of Dutch- 
Belgian cavalry division, position 
at Waterloo, 206 



Cooke, Maj.-Gen,, commander ist 
British division (Guards), 21 ; posi- 
tion at Waterloo, 203 ; French artil- 
lery fire upon, 307 

Cubidres, Col., commanding ist 
French Light Infantry, wounded 
at Quatre Bras, 229 71. ; wounded and 
taken prisoner at Hougomont, 229 n. 

Cumberland-Hanoverian Hussars, po- 
sition at Waterloo, 205 ; their cow- 
ardice and flight, 310, 311 71. 

Cust, Sir Edward, his Annals of the 
Wars of the Ni7ieteenth Ce7ituTy, 
quotations from, 60 71., 95 «., 138 w., 
223 11. 



D'AUBREME, Maj.-Gen., com- 
mander 2d Dutch-Belgian bri- 
gade, 21 ; stationed in the second 
line at Waterloo, 323 %., 363 7i. ; 
panic of his troops, 363 n., 373 n. 

Davoust, Marshal, absence from the 
Waterloo campaign, xi ; made Na- 
poleon's War Minister, 9 
. De Coster (see Lacoste) 

D'Erlon, Lieut.-Gen. Count, com- 
mander French ist corps, 25 ; his 
tardj' advance, June 15, 55, 61, 64, 
81, 83 ; his false march to Ligny, 
65 '»., 76, 84, 85, 87«., 88, 104, 105, 
114, 116 71., 117 71.; his own ac- 
count of it, 85 71. ; in pursuit of 
Anglo-Allies from Quatre Bras to 
Waterloo, 130; position at Water- 
loo, 211 ; grand attack on the 
Allied left, 236-272 ; badformation 
of his troops, 237 «., 255 n. ; re- 
pulsed and routed, 248-250, 257- 
263,271, 276; his corps disorganized, 
271 ; its reconstruction, 278 7i., 324 ; 
renewed attack on the Allied left, 
324, 327 ; attacked by the Prussians; 

335. 345. 346, 348, 349, 355 «•. 
routed, 369, 370, 373, 376 71., 377, 381 

De Lancey, Sir William, Quarter- 
master-General on Wellington's 
staff, mortally wounded at Water- 
loo, 379 71. 

Delavigne, Casimir, his poem, The 
Battle of Wate7'loo, extract from, 

457-459 

'De'Lesc\uxe,lii\s Napoleonet sa Fa7nille, 
quotation from, 385 71. 

Dumont, Lieut.-Gen., commander 3d 
French cavalry division, 25 ; at 
Ligny, 92 ; his position at Water- 
loo, 210, 212 ; opposed the Prussian 
advance, 234, 235, 303, 304 n.] 



502 



INDEX. 



DON 



GEN 



attacked by the Prussians, 302, 
347 7i., 348 

Donzelot, Gen., commander 2d French 
division, 25 ; attacked La Haye 
Sainte, 239, 242, 243, 279, 292, 294, 
295 ; captured it, 314-317 ; attacks 
from, 318, 324-326, 327-333, 355, 
363 5!.., 368; routed, 368, 370; at- 
tacked Picton's division, 239, 247- 
249, 254 

Dornberg, Maj.-Gen. Sir William, 
commander 3d British cavalry bri- 
gade, 22 ; commanded skirmishers 
of rearguard on the retreat from 
Quatre Bras to Waterloo, 1 34 ; his 
position at Waterloo, 205 ; conflicts 
writh French cavalry, 286, 289 ; 
charged in the final advance, 370 

Drouot, Gen., chief of artillery Im- 
perial Guard, reproached himself 
for delaying "the opening of the 
battle of Waterloo, 219 n. ; prepared 
the Guard for its last charge, 355 

Duhesme, Lieut.-Gen., commanding 
the Young Guard, 25 ; his position 
at Waterloo, 210 ; defended Plan che- 
noit, 305, 336, 337 ; wounded, 354 ; 
murdered by the Brunswick hussars 
after Waterloo, 400 

Du Plat, Col., commander ist brigade 
King's German Legion, 21 ; his 
position at Waterloo, 204 ; entered 
front line, 319, 320, 335 ; attacked 
by the French, 320 ; mortally 
wounded, 320 ; his troops in the 
defence of Hougomont, 323 «.,335 

Durutte, Gen., commander 4th French 
division, 25 ; his position after the 
battle of Ligny, 115; attacked 
Papelotte, 239, 241, 242, 2707?.. ; 
checked Vandeleur's cavalry charge, 
269, 270 n. ; attacked by the Prus- 
sians, 303, 335, 347 71., 348 ; flight 
of his troops, 347 «., 375 11., 377 



ELCHINGEN, Duke of (see Ney) 
Elze, Carl, his Life of Byron, 
quotations from, 420 n. 
England (see Great Britain) 
Erckmann-Chatrian, their Waterloo, 
quotations from, 96 ?i., 106 n., 1 12 n., 
126 n., 129 n,, 132 n., 140 m., 141 n., 
180 '«., 192 n., 217 w., 238 n., 262 n., 
290 n,, 316 n., 35672-., 359 n., 395 n. 
Excelmans, Lieut.-Gen., commander 
2d French cavalry coriDs, 20 ; at 
Ligny, 93 ; with Grouchy on the 
march on Wavre, 144 n , 145 ; led 



the reconnoissance, 145, 148 n., 159, 
160; delayed the march, 157; did 
not counsel Grouchy to march to 
Waterloo, 160 n. ; skirmish with 
Prussian rearguard, 162 



FEZENSAC, Duke de, on the 
French staff organization, 39 n, 

' Fleurus Triangle,' 41, 56, 89 

Fouche, Joseph, treachery of, 29 n., 

Foy, Gen., commander 9th French 
division, 25 ; position at Waterloo, 
211; charged with the taking of 
Hougomont, 225, 355 n. 

France, Royalist sentiment in, 2 ; 
military strength, 2, 3 ; finances, 3, 
4 ; attitude of the Allied Powers 
toward, 5, 6 ; European sentiment 
toward, 6 n. ; German hatred of, 
6 n. ; political discords, 9, 10 ; con- 
sequences of Napoleon's fall to, 
408-413 

Frazer, Sir Augustus, commander 
British horse-artillery, quotations 
from, 53 n., 73 n., 195 n., 226 n., 
253 n., 271 n., 273 n., 291 n., 312, 
342 n., 354 n., 357 n., 374 ■«.. ; 
checked French attack on Hougo- 
mont by his ho'witzer fire, 226 n. ; 
was warned of the coming charge 
of the Imperial Guard, 357 n, ; pro- 
cured guns of' large calibre in spite 
of Wellington, 374 n. ; his services 
ignored by Wellington, 374 n. 

Friant, Lt. -Gen., commanding the Old 
Guard, 25 ; his position at Water- 
loo, 210; in the last charge of the 
Guard, 357 n., 360 ; wounded, 360 

Frischermont, 183, 191, 19271.; occu- 
]3ied by the Prussians, 302, 304 

Fuller, Col., King's Dragoon Guards, 
killed at Waterloo, 265 



GENAPPE, situated on the Genappe 
stream, I2i, 135 n., 141 n. ; diffi- 
cult to traverse, 121, 130, 131, 133, 
i34> I35> 214; passed by British 
rearguard, 134 ; Southey's descrip- 
tion of, 135 n. ; cavalry action at, 
134-141, 218 '«. ; a death-trap to 
the French after Waterloo, 135 n., 
399-402 ; meeting of Wellington 
and Bliicher at, after Waterloo, 
398 n. ; attempted rally of the 
Grand Army at, 399 ; carried by 
the pursuing Prussians, 399-402 ; 
murder of Duhesme in, 400; Na- 



INDEX. 



50: 



GEO 



GRO 



poleon's carriage captured in, 401 ; 
Napoleon's flight from, 402 

George IV, Ms patronage of Scott,443- 
447; his\isit to Edinburgh, 435-437 

German}^ hatred of France in, 6 n. 

Gerard, Lt.-Gen. Count, commander 
4th corps (French), 25 ; delay in 
advance mto Belgium, Jime 15, 39; 
errors as to his name, 45 n. ; at 
Ligny, 92, 96, 100, 107, 108, in ; de- 
plored the delay in piursmng, 126 n. ; 
with Grouchy on the march on 
Wavre, 144 «., 145, 160 ; his account 
of the march, 146 n. ; delayed the 
march, 157 ; iirged Grouchy to 
march to Waterloo, 161 ; alterca- 
tion with Grouchy, 162, 164 n. ; 
wounded in the battle of Wavre, 
166 11. ; his book attacking Grouchy, 
170 n. 

Girard, Gen., commander 7tli French 
infantry division, 25, 45 n. ; his name 
to be distinguished from Gerard's, 
45 n. ; separated from his corps, 45, 
61, 92, 117 »., 144 n. ; at Ligny, 92, 
98 ; mortally wounded, 45 n., 98 ; 
his corps not in action after Ligny, 
144 n. 

Gleig, Kev. G. E., his SaUle of 
Waterloo, quotations fi'om, 52 n., 
60, 93 «., iiOM., 140 «., 196 «., 
241 w., 255 n., 259 w., 311 »., 2>^Tn., 
340 '«., 398 n. 

Gneisenau, chief of staff to Bliicher, 
las staff administration, 54 n. ; his 
plan for the battle of Ligny, 59, 
60 n. ; at Ligny, 107 ; took com- 
mand after Bliicher 's fall, iii n., 
113; ordered retreat to Wavre and 
change of base, 113, 114, 118; his 
report on the battle, 354 n. ; led the 
Prussian pursuit of the French 
after Waterloo, 399-404 

Gordon, Col. Sir Alexander, on Wel- 
lington's staff, killed at Waterloo, 
379 ?i., 380 M 

Gordon, Maj. Pryce, guided Byron 
over the field of Waterloo, 419 «,. ; 
also Scott, 424 

Gordon, Mrs, Pryce, Bja-on's CMlde 
Harold, stanzas on Waterloo written 
for her album, 418 

Gourgaud, Gen., his Napoleon : Cam- 
pagne de 1815, 85 ?i. ; quotations 
from, 85 n., 344 »., 347 n. ; Grouchy's 
Observations upon, 144 n. 

Graham, Sergeant, Coldstream Guards, 
at the defence of Hougomont, 
^28 n., 229 ; rescue of his brother, 



274 n, ; annuity given to, 274 ; old 
age of, 274 

Grant, Maj. -Gen. Sir C, commander 
5th British cavalry brigade, 22 ; his 
position at Waterloo, 205 ; manoeu- 
vres against Pire's cavalry, 279, 
280, 287, 297 ; conflicts during the 
French cavahy charges, 290, 297 

Great Britain, war subsidy advanced 
by, 7 ; inefliciency of the War De- 
partment, 16-19 ; implication in 
the Holy Alliance, 408 n. ; adjust- 
ment of peace with France, 409 n. ; 
her wars since Waterloo, 410 7i. 

Greville, Charles C. F., his Memoirs, 
quotations from, 208 «., 374 n,, 
408 n. 

Grouchy, Marquis de (grandson of the 
Marshal), his defence of his grand- 
father's course in the campaign, 
115 n., 125 ■)i., 144 n. 

Grouchy, Marshal, commander 
French reserve cavalry, 26 ; in the 
first day's invasion, 44. Com- 
manded right wing in the battle of 
Lignj^, 56, 93, 98. Made ready to 
pursue after the battle, 114, 115 ra. ; 
unable to get access to Napoleon, 
115, 220 11.; again next morning 
until eight o'clock, 115%., 125- 
127; received verbal orders from 
Napoleon to pursue the Prussians, 
124 ?i.; 128, 129 ?i., 144; given 
command of 33,000 men, 128, 143, 
144 n. ; objected to his orders, 128, 
144, 158 n., 167; orders insisted 
upon by Napoleon, 128, 145; re- 
ceived written order for the pursuit, 
129 n., 145, 147 n., 148 n. ; Napo- 
leon's further orders respecting the 
pursuit, 143, 147 n.-it^on., 156 ?^., 
161 n., 163, 165 ; certain of these 
orders fictitious, 143, 149 «., 151 %. 
Grouchy's march to Wavre, 143- 
171; delays on the march, 145, 
146 «., 147, 157, 159 «., 166; en- 
counters with the Prussians, 159, 
162. Heard the cannon of Waterloo, 
160 ; refused to abandon his march 
on Wavre, 161, 162, 164 71. Battle 
of Wavre, 163-166 ; defeated Thiel- 
mann, 165 ; learned of the defeat 
at Waterloo, 166, 403 ; retreated 
into France, 166; Pirch marched to 
intercept, 399. Statement that he 
was expected at Waterloo by Na- 
poleon, 155 n., 164 n., 344 n., 358 ; 
impossibility of such expectation, 
344 n., 358 ; his arrival announced 



504 



INDEX. 



GUA 



HOU 



to the French soldiers, 347 n., 358. 
Was Grouchy at fault for his ab- 
sence from Waterloo? 1 66-1 71. 
Misrepresentations of his course by- 
Napoleon and Napoleonists, 166 ; 
by Thiers, 115 w., 124 n., 129 n., 
146 n., 151 11., 156 n., 158 n., 161 n., 
168, 171 

Guard (see Imperial Guard) 

Gudin, Gen., Napoleon's page at 
Waterloo, 33, 220 n. ; his testimony 
as to Napoleon's health, 33, 34, 
220 n. ; attends Napoleon in sur- 
veying the Waterloo field, 142 

Guilleminot, Gen., real commander of 
French 6th infantry division, called 
Prince Jerome's, 45 n., 225 n. 

Guyot, Gen,, commander ist cavalry 
division of the Imperial Guard, 25 ; 
position at Waterloo, 210 ; in grand 
charges upon the Allied squares, 
276, 293, 296 n., 299 n. 



HACKS, Lt.-Gen. von, commander 
1 3th Prussian brigade, 24 ; 
march from Wavre to Waterloo, 
302, 304 ; attacked French right 
flank at Waterloo, 304 n., 335, 350 

Hake, Col., commanding Cumberland- 
Hanoverian Hussars, position at 
Waterloo, 200; cowardice of, 310, 
311 n. ; court-martialled and cash- 
iered, 311 n. 

Halkett, Maj.-Gen. Sir Colin, com- 
mander 5th British brigade, 21, 
205 n. ; at Quatre Bras, 80, 8r, 83 ; 
his position at Waterloo, 203 ; re- 
sists French cavalry charges, 282 : 
opposing the charge of the Imperial 
Guard, 362 ; wounded, 363 n. 

Halkett, Col. Hugh, commander 3d 
Hanoverian brigade, 21, 205 n. ; 
his position at Waterloo, 204 ; came 
into front line, 319, 322, 333 n., 335 ; 
pursued the Imperial Guard after its 
last charge, 368, 369, 373, 377, 383- 
387,390; captured Cambronne,388w. 

Halleck, Gen. H. W. (U.S. Army), 
his translation of Jomini's Life of 
Napoleon, 323 n, 

Hamilton, Col., commander Scots 
Greys, killed at Waterloo, 267 n. 

Hanover, war measures of, 7 w. ; army 
of (see Army, Hanoverian) 

Hardinge, Col. Sir Henry, 30 ». ; Eng- 
lish commissioner with Blucher's 
stafE, 30 n. ; quotation from, 60 n. ; 
wounded at Lignj% 1 10 n. 



Haxo, Gen., commanding engineers 
(French), reconnoitred Allied posi- 
tion at Waterloo, 216, 217 

Haj'don, B. H., anecdote of Water- 
loo by, 253 n., 255 n., 357 n., 
477 n. 

Hazlitt, William, on Sir Walter 
Scott, 429 n. 

Heine, Heinrich, on Scott, 429 n. ; 
on Napoleon, 429 n„ 461, 462 n.; 
on Wellington, 461, 462 n. ; his 
poem, The Grenadiers, translated 
by Bowring, 454, 455 ; his English 
Fragments, quotation from, 461 n.; 
his Ideas, quotation from, 475 n. 

Henkel, Gen. von, commander 4th 
Prussian brigade, 23 ; at Ligny, 
loi, 103 

Hepburn, Col., 3d British Guards, in 
defence of Hougomont, 272, 292 

Heymfes, Col., aide-de-camp to Ney, 
43 '». ; at Quatre Bras, 61, 85^1.; 
his contradictions of Napcleonist 
libels of Ney, 43 n., 129 n,, 299 01. ; 
refused infantry reinforcements by 
Napoleon, 305, 318 

Hill, Lie at. -Gen. Lord, commander 
2d Allied corps, 21 ; position at 
Waterloo, 206 n., 208 ; reoi-ganizes 
right wing, 319,320, 321, 322 

Hillier, Col. von, commander i6th 
Prussian brigade, 24 ; attacked 
French right flank at Waterloo, 300, 
302, 304 n., 335, 336; attacked 
Planchenoit, 336, 348, 350 

Holland (see Netherlands) 

" Hollow- way," use of the term, 182 w. 

Hood, Thomas, his poem, Napoleon's 
Midniglvt Review, 455-457 

Hooper, G., his Waterloo, quotations 
from, 52 n., 56 n., 95 n., 153 n., 
181, 206, 214, 215 n., 221 n., 222 n., 
243 01., 256 n., 270 n., 301 ■«., 315 n., 
406 

Hortense, Queen, her Partant pour 
la Syrie, 426-430 ; " improved "' by 
Scott, 427-430 

Hotten, John Camden, intended pub- 
lication of Macaulay's juvenile 
poems, 492 

Hougomont, description of, 179, 184- 
188 ; importance of the post, 184, 
205, 209 n., 221 n., 229 n., 273 ; 
garrison of, 203, 272, 323 n.; de- 
fences of, 203 ; Napoleon's plan of 
attacking, 222 ; attacks upon, 224, 
225-232, 272, 274,292, 319, 323, 326, 
334, 335> 369 ; set on fire, 273, 274, 
279, 334; alleged miracle in the 



HOW 

chapel of, 274 n. ; French routed 
from 376 11., 377 

Howard, Major, loth British hussars, 
in final charge upon the Old Guard, 
390 ; killed, 390 ; Byron's tribute 
to, 390 n., Southey's tribute to, 
390 «., Col. Taylor's poem on, 391 n. 

Hugo, Victor, his Les lliserables, 
quotations fi-om, 132 n., 172 «., 177, 
178 71., 180 n., 186 n,, 189 ?!-., 193 w., 
232 n., 263 n., 287 n., 301 n., 375 «., 
383 71., 386 n., 400 n., 451, 461 #. ; on 
Napoleon's genius, 13271., 461 ?t. ; 
on Wellington, 461 n. 

Hxmdred Days, i 71. 

Hutton, Richard H., his Si7' Walte7- 
Scott, quotations from, 432, 436 



IMPERIAL Guard, 336 n. ; strength 
of, 338/;. ; Napoleon's feeling to- 
ward, 278/1., 305 ; deciding charge at 
Ligny, 103,108,109, 112; instructed 
to give no quarter, 108 n. ; losses, 
338 71. ; position at Waterloo, 210, 
213 ; defended Planchenoit, 305, 
336-338, 350. 354; forced to re- 
treat, 353 ; its last charge, 345 7i., 
349, 354, 368 ; checked and routed, 
361-371, 377, 378, 382, 383, 384; 
rally and retreat, 369, 382, 383, 384, 
390-393 ; legend of its extermina- 
tion, 384 71., 389 71. ; a square of, 
bears Napoleon from the field, 383, 
393, 402; dissolves atGenappe, 402 

Inniskillings, cavalry regiment, in rear- 
guard on retreat from Quatre Bras to 
Waterloo, 138; position at Waterloo, 
205 ; in the great charge, 258-260 ; 
losses in the charge, 266 

Italy, war measures of, 7 71. 



JAGOW, Gen. von, commander 3d 
Prussian brigade, 25 ; at Ligny, 
loi, 103, 113; in the retreat to 
Wavre, 113 

Jacquinot, Lieut.-Gen., commander 
1st French cavalry division, 25 ; 
in D'Erlon's grand attack at Water- 
loo, 239, 265, 266 71., 267, 268 

Jeannin, Lieut.-Gen., commanding 
20th French division, 25 ; with Bil- 
low, resisting the Prussian attack, 
234 ; attacked by the Prussians, 
30471. 

Jeffrey, Lord, on contemporaneous 
Waterloo poems, 440, 442 

Jomini, Gen. Henri, his Id/e of Na- 



IKDEX. 505 

KRU 

j)oleon, quotations from, 1 1 n., 95 «., 
115 71., 345 n. ; his Suvimary of 
the Ca7npaig7i, quotations from, 

ST 71., 127 71., 170, 238 71., 290 'ft., 
291 71., 341 7%., 345 71., 349 71., 354 71., 

399 



KELLERMANN, Lieut.-Gen., com- 
mander 3d French cavalry corps, 
with Ney at Quatre Bras, 56, 76, 
77, 84 n. ; escape of, 82 ; position 
at Waterloo, 210, 212 ; in grand 
charges upon the Allied squares, 
276, 287, 293, 296 n., 299 71. 

Kempt, Maj.-Gen. Sir James, com- 
mander 8th British brigade, 22 ; 
at Quatre Bras, 71 ; his position at 
Waterloo, 202 ; attacked by Donze- 
lot, 246-249, 257 ; attacked fx-om 
La Haye Sainte, 324, 327, 330 

Kennedy, Gen. Sir J. Shaw, his Notes 
on Waterloo, \aii, quotations from, 
30, 53 71., 197, 198 K,., 199 «., 202 7i., 

222 ■«.,244 71., 253 71., 280 71., 281 «., 
284, 299 'ft., 305, 313 'ft., 323 71., 

330 'ft., 342 71., 343 n., 370; devised 
formation of British infantry to 
resist cavalry charges, 197 ■«., 281 ; 
his division of the attacks in the 
battle of Waterloo, 224 ; his illus- 
tration of the infantry formation, 
282 ; helps repair the broken Allied 
line, 330 

Kielmansegge, Maj.-Gen. Count, com- 
mander 1st Hanoverian brigade, 
2 1 ; at Quatre Bras, 80, 83 ; his posi- 
tion at Waterloo, 203 ; attacked by 
French cavalry, 244, 252, 295 ; re- 
sists French cavalry charges, 282 ; 
in the French attack from La Haye 
Sainte, 328, 329, 333 71. ; wounded, 
329 ; his troops driven back, 330 ; 
rally, 332, 333 ; takes command of 
the 3d division, 332, 333 

Knight, Charles, his jPojnilar History 
of EnglaTid, 229 7i. 

Korner, Theodore, patriotic songs of, 
6 ft. 

Krafft, Gen. von, commander 6th 
Prussian brigade, 24 ; at Ligny, 103, 
107 ; attacked French right flank, 

347, 348 
Kruse, Gen. von, commander Nassau 
brigade, 22 ; position at Waterloo, 
203 ; resists French cavalry charges, 
282 ; in the French attack from 
La Haye Sainte, 328, 329 ; driven 
back, 329, 333 71. ; rally, 333 



5o6 



INDEX. 



LAB 



MAI 



LABEDOYERE, Gen., aide-de-camp 
to Napoleon, caused D'Erlon's 
false march at Quatre Bras, 85 n. 

La Belle Alliance, description of, 
177 n., 181, 182, 183, 184. Napo- 
leon's headquarters during tlie 
battle, 222. Combats around, 381, 
382, 384, 389, 393, 395; Anglo- 
Allied troops stopped their pursuit 
^t> 398 ; story of tlie meeting of 
Wellington and Bliicher at, 398 

Lacoste (otherwise called De Coster), 
declared by himself to have been 
Napoleon's guide at Waterloo, 
177 ?i., 232 '«. ; extent of his im- 
postures, 233 n., 424 ; current fic- 
tions of, 238 n., 264 11., 289 n. 

La Haye, 183, 190 'W., 191, 211 ; Na- 
poleon's plan of attacking, 222 ; 
attacked by Durutte, 239, 242, 
270 n., 335, 346 ; occupied by 
Zieten, 335, 346 

La Haye Sainte, description of, 175 n., 
183, 184, 186-190, 192 n. ; import- 
ance of tlie post, 184, 209 n. ; im- 
portance underestimated, 202 ; 
neglected by Wellington and his 
statf, 190, 191 ■«., 202, 292, 294, 
313, 314, 340, 342 «. ; garrison of, 
202, 242, 273, 275, 313'M. ; Napo- 
leon's plan of attacking, 222 ; at- 
tacked by Donzelot and Ney, 239, 
242-244, 251, 271, 276, 278 '«., 
279, 292, 294, 295, 306, 313-319; 
taken by the French, 315 ; time of 
capture misstated, 277?!., 300%., 
3i5?j. ; French atta,cks upon the 
Allied centre from, 318, 324-326, 
327-333. 34O) 359 ; abandoned by 
the French, 368 

Lamarque, Gen., his Notice sur les 
Cent Jotirs, quotation from, 119 n. 

Lambert, Maj.-Gen. Sir John, com- 
mander loth British brigade, 22 ; 
late arrival at Waterloo, 202 ; his 
position in the battle, 202, 206, 
275 ; attacked from LaHaj^e Sainte, 
327, 328, 329 

Langen, Col. von, commander 8th 
Prussian brigade, 24 ; at Lignj^ 
103 

Ledebur, Col. von (Prussian), inter- 
posed between Napoleon's and 
Grouchy's armies, 153 ; skirmish 
with French cavalry, 162 

Lefebvi-e-Desnouettes, General, com- 
mander 2d cavalry division, Impe- 
rial Guard, 25 ; position at Water- 
loo, 211; in grand charges upon 



the Allied squares, 276, 277 n., 283, 
287 n. 

Lennox, Lord William, in the battle 
of Waterloo, 259 qi. ; his Recollec- 
tions, 259 n. 

Lever, Charles, his Charles O^Malley, 
48, 52 n., 79 n. 

Ligny (or Sombreffe), importance of 
the position, 15, 42; battle of (see 
Battle) 

Liverpool, Lord, his rigid treatment 
of Napoleon at St. Helena, 474 n. 

Lloyd, Capt., commanded British 
battery, position at Waterloo, 282 ; 
charged bj^ French cavalry, 283 

Lobau, Lt -Gen. Count, commander 
6th corps (French), 25 ; advance 
into Belgium, June 15, 39, 55; in 
reserve during battle of Ligny, 56, 
93, 94, III, 116 '»., 117 71. ; his posi- 
tion at Waterloo, 212 ; resisted the 
Prussian attack, 234, 235 n., 277 «., 
278 n., 303-305. 334, 335. 348, 350, 
354 w.; flight of his troops, 350; 
attempted rally at Genappe, 402 ; 
taken prisoner, 354 «,., 402 

Lockhart, J. G., his Life of Scott, 431 ; 
quotations from, 195 ?i., 432, 433, 

434 '«. 
Losthin, Gen. von, commander 15th 

Prussian brigade, 24 ; attacked 

French right flank at Waterloo, 300, 

302, 304 n., 3'35, 350 
Louis XVIII, his flight on Napoleon's 

return, i ; Roj^alist efliorts in his 

behalf, 2 ; in Ghent, 14, 79 n., 214 ; 

his second restoration, 405 ; Holy 

Alliance, 405, 407, 408 n. 
Lowe, Sir Hudson, conduct towards 

Napoleon at St. Helena, 474 71. 



MA CAUL AY, Lord, his poem, 

i?J_ Wate7'loo, 224 11., 443, 492 ; quo- 
tation from, 223 71. ; on Sir Walter 
Scott, 430, 431 ; unpublished juve- 
nile poems on Waterloo, 492-494 

McCarthy, Justin, his Hist07-7j of 07i7' 
0)V7i Ti7iies, quotations from, 410, 
462 71. 

Macdonnell, Lt.-CoL, Coldstream 
Guards, at the defence of Hougo- 
mont, 228 71., 229 n. 

Maitland, Capt. F. L., his J57ionapa7-te 
071 board the JBellerojfhon, quotations 
from, 196 M. ; resists French cavalry 
charges, 282 

Maitland, Maj.-Gen., commander ist 
brigade British Guards, 21 ; at 



INDEX. 



507 



MAR 



NAP 



Quatre Bras, 86, 88 n, ; position at 
Waterloo, 203, 321, 322 ; attacked 
by French infantry, 326, 330 ; at- 
tacked by the Imperial Guard, 360, 
361,364,365; repelled the Guard, 
361, 362, 363, 367 n. 

Marcognet, Gen., commander 3d 
French division, 25 ; attacked Pic- 
ton's division, repulsed, 239, 250, 
251, 257 '»., 260-264; renewed at- 
tack, 324, 355 n. 

Martineau, Harriet, on Scott's sin- 
cerity, 431 

Merbe Braine, village of, 179, 182 

Mercer, Capt. Cavalie, commanded 
troop of British horse-artillery, 
efficiency of his battery, 18 n., 
307 n. ; advance to Quatre Bras, 
68 n. ; his position at Waterloo, 
307, 308 ; services at Waterloo, 308, 
311, 312 «.; his troop destroyed, 
312 n. ; his services ignored by 
Wellington, 312 11. ; his JoihTiial of 
the Waterloo Campaign, quotations 
from, 18 n., 67 n., 307 n., 312 n. 

Metternich, his Memoires, quotation 
from, 408 

Michel, Col., in the Old Guard, alleged 
author of the saying, " The Guard 
can die, but never surrender," 
385 n. 

Michel, Gen., commander chasseurs 
of the Imperial Guard, in their last 
charge, 357 n., 360; killed, 360 

Milhaud, Lt,-Gen. Count, commander 
4th French cavalry corps, 26 ; at 
Ligny, 109 ; in pursuit of Anglo- 
Allies from Quatre Bras to Water- 
loo, 130; position at Waterloo, 210, 
212 ; in D'Erlon's grand attack at 
Waterloo, 239, 266 ; in grand 
charges upon the Allied squares, 
276, 277 n., 280, 287 n., 296 n., 
299 71., 300 n. 

Mitchell, Col., commander 4th British 
brigade, 21 ; position at Waterloo, 
204, 285 n., 335 

Monthyon, Gen., French sub-chief of 
staff, testimony as to Napoleon's 
health, 236 n., 403 n. ; held Napo- 
leon on his horse in the flight from 
Waterloo, 403 n. 

Mont St. Jean, description of, 178, 

183 
Moore, Tom, his Life of Byron, ex- 
tracts from, 417 ?;., 418, 421, 459; 
his Diary, extracts from, 419 n., 
422 ; on Wordsw^orth's egotism, 
422; abstained from writing on 



Waterloo, 441, 442 ; liis Fudge 
Family, 442 

Morand, Lt.-Gen., commanding the 
Middle Guard, 25 ; his position at 
Waterloo, 210 ; defended Planche- 
noit, 337, 338 

Mortier, Marshal, designated as com- 
mander of the Imperial Guard, 25 ; 
fell iU on the eve of the campaign, 
43 ?i. 

Muffling, Baron, Prussian commis- 
sioner with Wellington's staff, 30 w. ; 
quotation from, 29, 30 ?i., 197, 
283 n. ; warns Wellington of the 
invasion, 49 ; remiss in attention to 
a message announcing Bliicher's 
defeat at Ligny, 109 «., 117 ; sends 
Bliicher a scheme for action at 
Waterloo, 152, 155 ; directs Zieten's 
entrance into the battle, 332 n., 
346 



NAPIER, Capt., commander British 
battery, position at Waterloo, 
360, 364 ; services, 360, 365, 367 n. 
Napoleon I., returned from Elba, i ; 
his measures of administration, 2, 
8-1 1 ; military measures, 2, 3 ; 
financial measures, 3, 4 ; diplomatic 
measures, 4, 7 ; outlawed by the 
Allies, 5, 6 ; compelled to make 
war, 7, 1 1 n. ; plan of the campaign, 
8 ?i., 15, 27. State of his health, 
X, 31-37, 47 «., 57%., 127 ?^., 219; 
general physical decline, 33, 97 n., 
214, 236 n. ; despondency^ 33, 34, 
220 M. ; his mysterious malady, 34, 
236W.; prostrated on the first even- 
ing of the invasion (June 15), 
36, 47 11. ; again before the battle 
of Ligny, 36, 56 n., 57 01., 116 n. ; 
again after the battle of Ligny, 36, 
11$ n., 116 n.; inaccessible to his 
officers, 36, 115?^., 116 %. ; again on 
the morning of June 17, 36, 
125 ?i., 220%.; delays in pursuing 
Bliicher, 36, 1 25-128, prostrated 
before the battle of Waterloo, 36, 
220 n. ; incapacitated during the 
battle, 36, 236 n. ; and during his 
flight, 36, 37, 403'M. ; testimony of 
Charras, 32, 33, 47 n., 236 n. ; Ches- 
ney, 32, 34 ; Gudin, 33, 34, 36, 220 n. 
Grouchy, 36, 115 n. ; Hooper, 56 n. 
Prince Jerome, 32 ; Marchand, 32 
Monthyon, 36, 37, 236 11., 403 n. 
Quarterly Eeviem, 34 ; Eeille, 36 
57 ». ; Segur, 34, 35, 36, 57 n., 236 n. 



5o8 



INDEX. 



NAP 



NEY 



403%.; Soult, 36, 115 M.; Thiers, 
32 ; Turenne, 36, 236 n. ; Ywan, 35. 
Left Paris for the army, 1 1 ; orders 
its advance, 11, 28 ; tlie advance on 
Fleurus, 37-45 ; met Ney and gave 
Mm command of the left v?ing, 43 ; 
spent the night at Charleroi, 47, 55, 
60. Arranges advance on Quatre 
Bras and Ligny, 56 ; v?ent to 
Fleurus at noon (June 16), 56, 97 n. ; 
orders to Ney, 61 -63 n. ; prepares 
the attack on Ligny, 93, 94 ; battle 
of Ligny, 95-1 1 1 ; delays the deci- 
sive charge in consequence of 
D'Brlon's false march, 103-105, 108 ; 
spent the night at Fleurus, iii, 
115%., 11611.; made no pursuit, 
III, 114, 115, ii6n., 125-128, 166; 
delays action on June 17, 125, 

128, 166, 170; orders to Ney, 123, 
124; formed a false idea of the 
Prussian line of retreat, 123, 125 w., 

129, 144, 145, 146 ra,, 167, 236 «,. ; 
orders Grouchj"- to pursue tliem, 128, 
143, I44'«., 147 w., 157 «., 161 '«.., 
163, 219 (see Grouchy) ; joined Ney, 
122, 128; pursued Wellington to 
Waterloo, 130, 136, 138 ?i., 139%.; 
nocturnal reconnoissance of the 
battlefield of Waterloo, 142, 143, 
206 n., 214. His order of battle at 
Waterloo, 206 ■;/., 210-213 ; pro- 
ceedings before the battle, 216, 220, 

221 n. ; makes ready to begin the 
battle at noon, 220 w., 221, 222 ; his 
headquarters at La Belle Alliance, 
176, 222, 236 n.; plan of attack, 

222 (see Battle op Waterloo), 
discovered Billow's approach, 155, 
167, 234 ; assertion tliat lie expected 
Grouchy, 155, 164 %., 235 ?/., 344 n , 
358 ; called off to the right flank 
to resist the Prussian attack, 277 n., 
300, 303, 305, 306, 318 n., 337, 338, 
340, 354 ; refused infantry to sup- 
port Ney's attack on the Allied 
centre, 305, 318, 340, 342 m, ; pos- 
sibilities of retreating, 343 «., 344 n., 
345 n. ; prepared the flnal charge 
of liis Guard, 345 n., 354-357. 
358 n., 359 ; rallied them after 
their repulse, 369, 370, 376 n. ; re- 
tired within a square, 383, 397, 
402 ; fled to France, 401, 402-404 ; 
notified Grouchy of the defeat, 166, 
403. Reached Paris, 405 ; abdi- 
cated, 405 ; sent to St. Helena, 
405 ; died, 406, 474 n. ; his remains 
brought to France, 406, 474, 475. 



His plan of the campaign ruined 
by delays, 55, 114, 116; by the 
tardy advance of the army, Jxme 
i5> 2)7^ 39i 55; by his own loss of 
the morning of June 16, 56 n., 
57 '«., 114; by his omission to 
pursue the Prussians, iii, 11 4- 11 6, 
158 11., 166; his own delays on the 
morning of June 17, 125-128, 
158 n., 166, 170; by his delay in 
beginning the battle of Waterloo, 
216-220; by his own failure to 
oppose the Prussian attack in 
season, 235, 235 n., 302, 306. His 
other faults in the conduct of the 
campaign : his failure to inform 
himself of the enemy's movements, 
57 11., 115 n., 122 ?i., 123, 125?;.., 
129, [44, 145, 146%., i54'»., 167, 
171, 236 n. ; to use D'Erlon's corps 
at Ligny, ii5?i., \i6n,; andLobau's 
corps, 116 n.; to personally super- 
vise the details at the battle of 
Waterloo, 232 n., 236 11., 277 n., 
299 n. ; to check the destruction 
of the cavalry, 277 n., 293, 298, 299, 
305 ; to support the cavalry charges 
hj infantry, 292 n , 297?;. , 305, 318, 
340, 342 01. ; to support the charge 
of the Guard by cavalry, 367 n. 
His errors attributed by Napoleon- 
ist writers to his lieutenants : to 
Grouchy, \2^n., 14671., 147a., I5i?t., 
166-171 ; to Ney, 43 01., 44 «,., 63 n., 
125 n., 277 n., 293 n., 299 n. 

Napoleon III, avenged his uncle's 
quarrels, 409, 410 

Netherlands, Kingdom of the, war 
measures of, 7 n. ; creation of, 11, 
1201., 59'«„ 326 re., 329 «., 409 w. ; 
discontents in, 11, 79 m. ; army of 
(see Aemy, Dutch- Belgian) 

Ney, Duke of Elchingen (son of the 
Marshal), his vindication of his 
father's command at Quatre Bras, 
84 n. 

Ney, Marshal, his defection from 
Louis XVIII to Napoleon, i ; joined 
the Grand Armj^ near Charleroi, 
June 15, 43; in command of left 
wing, 43 ; advanced on Quatre Bras, 
45-47 ; before Quatre Bras, 60-64 i 
his orders from Napoleon, 61-63 n., 
93, 123, 124, 127, 128. At the 
battle of Quatre Bras, 69-88 ; pre- 
vented Wellington's junction with 
Bliicher, 117 n. In action after the 
battle, 112, 116, 122. Advanced 
with Napoleon in pursuit of Wei- 



INDEX. 



509 



NOS 



lington, 1 28, 129. His grand attack 
with D'Erlon's infantry upon the 
Allied left, 155, 236-272. Led 
charges in person, 242, 283 ii., 288 n., 
2gon., 296 ?i., 297 ?i., 316, 3S7 n- 
Cavahy attacks upon the Allied 
wing, 276-299 ; Ms over-confidence, 
276 ; his alleged rash destruction 
of the cavalry, 277 n., 291 ■«., 293, 
300 ; deficient in infantry supports, 
276, 278 n., 296 ; asked them of 
Napoleon, 297 n-., 305 ; was refused, 
305, 318, 340. Attacked and took 
La Haj'e Sainte, 306, 313, 317; 
attacked the Allied centre, 318, 319, 
323-333 ; broke the Allied line, 330, 
333, 340. Believed the report that 
G-rouchj^ was coming, 358 ?i. Led 
the last charge of the Guard, 357 71.- 
360, 375 n. ; among the last in 
the field, 347 n., 375 ; attempts a 
rally, 376 ?i. ; his escape from the 
field, 377 71. Condemned to death 
by the Chamber of Peers, 405 ; 
shot, 406. Thiers' censures of his 
generalship, 43 n., 61 ?;., 63 n., 65 n., 
123 n., 124 n., 129 n., 277 n., 293 ?;., 
300 71. 
Nostitz, Count, aide-de-camp to 
Bliicher, saved his life at Ligny, 
1 10 n. 



OMPTBDA, Col. von, commander 2d 
brigade King's German Legion, 
21 ; his position at Waterloo, 203, 
249 n. ; attacked by French cavalry, 
244, 252 ; resisted French cavalry 
charges, 282 ; a battalion destroyed 
and himself killed by the Prince 
of Orange's meddling, 295, 324-326 ; 
his squares hold their position, 314 ; 
destruction among his troops, 327, 
328, 329 ; driven back, 330 ; rallied, 

332 

Orange, Prince Frederick of, at Hal 
during the battle of "Waterloo, 207 

Orange, Prince of, commander of tlae 
Netherlands army, 12 n. ; warns 
Wellington of the invasion, 48 ; at 
Quatre Bras, 58, 65, 68, 79 n., 86 ; 
his escape, 68 n. ; character of, 58 n. ; 
destroys the 69th regiment by 
his meddling, 81, 82, 88 >i., 285 n. ; 
at Waterloo, 231, 281 ; destroys a 
battalion of Ompteda's by med- 
dling, 295, 324-326 ; attempts to 
restore the broken Allied line, 329 ; 
wounded, 178 n., 329, 380 n. ; praised 



by Sir Walter Scott, 329 n. ; ad- 
mired by the Belgians, 246 ;;,, 329 



PACK, Maj.-Gen. Sir Dennis, com- 
mander 9th British brigade, 22 ; 
at Quatre Bras, 81, 88 «. ; jDOsition 
at Waterloo, 201, 202, 246 ; attacked 
bjr Marcognet, 250, 260, 262 
Pajol, Lt:-Gen., commanderist cavalry 
corps (French), 26 ; in the advance 
into Belgium, June 15, 37 ; at 
Ligny, 93 ; pursued in a false direc- 
tion after Ligm^, 118 «., 123, 125, 
128, 145, 158 71. ; with Grouchy on 
the march on Wavre, 144 n., 147, 

157 

Palmerston, Lord, promoted the re- 
turn of Napoleon's remains fi-om 
St. Helena to France, 474 

Papelotte, 183, 190, 191, 192 n.; Na- 
poleon's plan of attacking, 222 ; 
attacked by Durutte, 239, 241, 242, 
270??.., 271, 335, 346; occupied hj 
Zieten, 335, 346, 373, 376 n. 

Paris, Wood of, see map, 176; not 
occupied hy the French, 234, 235 ; 
occupied by the Prussians, 157, 235, 
274, 300 

Pascallet, E., his biography of 
Grouchy, 147 n. 

Pelet, Gen., commander of chasseurs 
of the Old Guard, defended Planche- 
noit, 338, 350-354; saved Prussian 
prisoners from massacre, 351 ; 
driven out, 353 

Perponcher, Lt.-Gen.(Dutch-Belgian), 
Ms stand at Quatre Bras, 46, 50 71., 
58,68 

Picton, Lt.-Gen. Sir Thomas, com- 
mander 5th British division, 22 ; 
his advance from Brussels, 52, 67, 
70; at Quatre Bras, 70, 71, 77; 
wounded, but conceals it, 88 n. ; at 
the position at Waterloo on the 
retreat, 1 39 ; Ms position in the 
battle of Waterloo, 201 ; attacked 
by D'Erlon, 238, 245-251 ; leads a 
charge against Donzelot, 247 ; 
killed, 247, 248 71., 379 71. 

Pirch (I), Gen. von, commander 2d 
Prussian corps, 24 ; collects his 
corps to meet invasion, 53, 54 ; at 
Ligny, 29 ; in the retreat to Wavre, 
113, 119, 147; march from Wavre 
to Waterloo, 152-154; delayed in 
Wavre, 154, 162; enters the battle 
of Waterloo, 235, 302, 338, 345, 
347 ; attacks Planchenoit, 347, 348, 



5IO 



INDEX. 



350-354 ; pursues the French, 396, 
397 ; marches to intercept Grouchy's 
retreat, 399 

Pirch (II), Geu. von, commander 
Prussian 2d brigade, 23, 45 n. ; at 
Ligny, 98, 99, 107 

Pire, Lt,-Gen., commander 2d French 
cavahy division, 25 ; at Quatre 
Bras, 68, 74 ; his artillery fire 
against Hougomont, 225 ; and 
against the Allied position, 227, 
228 ; demonstrations against Allied 
right flank, 279, 297, 335 ; his 
battery silenced, 307 ; covered the 
French fliglrt, 394 

Planchenoit, 183 ; description of, 192 ; 
invisible from Allied position, 192, 
340 11. ; attacked by the Prussians, 
304, 305, 336-338. 350-354. 369. 
373; taken, 353. 376 ?i., 381 

Poetry on Waterloo (see Waterloo 
Poetry) 

Ponsonby, Col. Frederick, 12th British 
light dragoons, his charge at 
Waterloo, 267 ; wounded, 268 n. ; 
his narrative, 268 n. 

Ponsonby, Maj.-Gen. Sir William, 
commander 2d (Union) British 
cavalry brigade, 22 ; position at 
Waterloo, 205 ; in the grand cavalry 
charge, 251, 256-266 ; killed, 261 n., 
266 «., 379 n, ; his troops hold their 
position, 314 

Portugal, refused to join the Alliance, 
7 n. 

Pringle, Capt. J. W., his Remarhs on 
the Cavqmign of 1815, quotations 
from, 219 n., 285 n., 301 n., 327 01. 

" Prout, Father," his translation of 
Beranger's Les Soihvenirs dn Penple, 
extract from, 403 n. 

Prussia, war measures of, 6, 7 ; troops 
of (see Army) ; an accomplice in 
the Holj' Alliance, 408 ; revenge 
upon, sought by Napoleon III., 
409, 410 



QUARTEBLY REVIEW, Lon 
^ don, quotations from, 34, 35 

380 n., 384 11. 
Quatre Bras, importance of the posi 

tion, 15, 42, 89, 118 n.; alleged 

order to Ney to occupy it, 43 n. 

plan of the battlefield, 66 ; battle 

of (see Battle) 
Quinet, Edgar, quotation from, 151 « 

on Grouchy's proxjosed march to 

Waterloo, 169 



Quiot, Gen., commanded Alix's (ist) 
division at Waterloo, 239 71. ; at- 
tacked Picton's division, repulsed, 
249, 250, 257 ; renewed attack, 324, 
355 ^■ 



EEILLE, Count, commander of the 
2d corps (French), 25 ; leads 
advance into Belgium, June 15, 37, 
42 ; at Quatre Bras, 64 ; in pursuit 
of Anglo-Allies from Quatre Bras 
to Waterloo, 130 ; his position at 
Waterloo, 21 1 ; attacks Hougomont, 
225-232 ; did not personallj^ direct 
the action, 231, 232 n. 

Eichmond, Duchess of, her ball in 
Brussels, 48, 50 

Richmond, Duke of, at the battle of 
Waterloo, 259 n. 

Rockets used in the British army, 
19%.; on the retreat from Quatre 
Bras to Waterloo, 139 n. ; at Water- 
loo, 271 «,., 314 

Rognet, colonel of grenadiers of the 
Imperial Guard, ordered that no 
Cjuarter should be given, 108 n., 
400 n,; consequent massacres by the 
Prussians after Waterloo, 400 n. 

Rohl, Col. von, chief of Prussian 
ordnance department, reorganized 
artillery after the battle of Ligny, 

"3 

Ropes, Mr. John C, his article in 
Atlantic MontJily (June, 1881), 
" Who Lost Waterloo ? " xi, 147 «. 

Rougemont, alleged author of the 
saying, " The Guard can die, but 
never surrender," 385 n. 

Roussel, Lieut-Gen., commander 12th 
French cavalry division, 26 ; at- 
tacked La Haye Sainte and Allied 
centre, 239, 243, 244, 252 ; routed 
by British Household brigade of 
cavalry, 252-255 

" Royal " cavalry regiment, in rear- 
guard on retreat from Quatre Bras 
to Waterloo, 138 ; position at Water- 
loo, 205 ; in the great charge, 256, 
257, 258 ; losses in the charge, 266 

Rulli^re, battalion commander French 
95th regiment, endeavoured to 
check the flight at Waterloo, 395 n. 

Russell, Lord John, on the comparative 
merits of Wordsworth and Byron, 
422 

Russia, war measures of, 6, 7 ; the 
Holj^ Alliance, 408 n. ; Napoleon 
Ill's revenge upon, 409 



INDEX. 



511 



RYS 



SOM 



Kyssel, Gen. von, commander 14th 
Prussian brigade, 24 ; march from 
Wavre to Waterloo, 302, 304; at- 
tacked French right flank at Water- 
loo, 304 n. ; 335, 336 ; attacked 
Planchenoit, 336, 348, 350 



SALTOUN, Lord, ist brigade Guards, 
at the defence of Hougomont, 
230, 231, 272; opposing the charge 
of tlie Imperial Guard, 362 

Sandpit beside La Haye Sainte, 190 ; 
occupied by riflemen, 202, 247, 324; 
attacked by the French, 247, 324 ; 
fall of the Frencli cavalry into, 
256 11., 287 n. ; Victor Hugo's rela- 
tion of it, 256 n. 

Saxe- Weimar, Prince Bernhard of, 
at Quatre Bras, 46, 58 ; held Pape- 
lotte in battle of Waterloo, 241, 
271 ; attacked by Durutte, 24, 242, 
346 ; supported by the Prussians, 
304, 346 ; fired upon by the Prus- 
sians by mistake, 346, 347 n 

Scots Greys, cavalrj^ regiment, in rear- 
guard on retreat from Quatre Bras 
to Waterloo, 138 ; position at Wa- 
terloo, 205, 251 11., 256; tlieir grand 
charge, 251, 260-266, 268; losses 
in the charge, 266 

Scott, George Ewing, his Cambridge 
prize poem on Waterloo (1820), 
142 ?i., 443-451 

Scott, John, his Ode on Hearing the 
Drum, 477 n. 

Scott, Sir Walter, his visit to Water- 
loo, 423, 424 ; his Field of Waterloo, 
74 n., 172 n., 175 n., 425, 433 ; ex- 
tracts from, 156 n., 174 n., 175 n., 
186 »., 215 n., 359 «.., 379 n., 404 w.; 
his Danee of Death, 425, 426, 451, 
452; extracts from, 142 ?i. ; his 
Paul's Letters to his KinsfolTi, 246 n.; 
quotations from, 187 n., 209 n., 
233^-, 301 n., 311 n., 327 n., 329 ■«.., 
339 n., 340 n., 382 n., 384 n., 428 ; 
his Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, 
219 n., 301 n. ; extracts from, 233 n., 
255 n., 358 n., 407 ?i, ; his im- 
plicit confidence in Lacoste, 233 n., 
368 n., 424 ; his translations from 
the French, 426-430 ; his ideas of 
" honour," 382«,., 432 ; his associa- 
tion with Queen Caroline, 432-434 ; 
his tribute to the Duke of Bruns- 
wick (father), 74 «., 433; ignored 
the son, 74 n., 433 ; his patronage 
by George IV, 433-437 ; Lord 



Erskine's criticism on, 425 ; Haz- 
litt's, 429 n. ; Heine's, 429 n. ; Har- 
riet Martineau's, 431 ; Macaulay's, 
430 ; Thackeray's, 434, 436 ; Hut- 
ton's, 432, 436 ; Jeffrey's, 440 ; Tom 
Moore's, 441, 442; belittled Prus- 
sian assistance at Waterloo, 156 n., 
301 n. ; his last meeting with Bjrron, 
424 

Segur, Count de, his Memoires, 34 ; 
quotations from, 34, 35, 57 ?i., 236 »., 
403 n. 

Seymour, Capt. Horace, aide-de-camp 
to Lord Uxbridge, \nih Picton in 
repelling D'Erlon's charge, 148 n. ; 
efforts to utilize Dutch-Belgian 
cavalry, 309 ; efforts to utihze Hano- 
verian cavalry, 310, 311 

Shaw, Capt. James (see Kennedy, 
Sir James Shaw) 

Shaw, Corporal, 2d British Life 
Guards, Ms exploits at Waterloo, 
255 n.] Ms skull at Abbotsford, 
255 n. 

Siborne, Capt. AV., his History of the 
War in Franee and Belgium in 
18 1 5, vi, 246 01., quotations from, 
8 n., 21, 26 n., 40 n., 50 n., 52 n., 
76 n., 78 n., 82 n., 84 n., 89 n., 102, 
106 ?^., no n., 112 ?i., 132, 134 n., 
137, 138 n., 155 n., 157, 177 n., 18871., 
195 n., 245, 246 n., 253, 254, 255 n., 
274 n., 'I'jZ, 298, 301 n., 311, 314 n., 
317 n., 322 n., 325 n., 333 «., 340 «., 
342 n., 349 n., 352, 362, 366 n., 
373 n., 375, 382 H,., 388 n., 395, 397, 
406 

Simmer, Lieut. -Gen., commanding 
19th French division, with Billow 
resisting the Prussian attack, 234 ; 
attacked by the Prussians, 304 n. 

Sinclair, Sir John, his Defence of 
Hougomont, 222 7i., 246 n. 

Sleigh, Col., nth British light dra- 
goons, commanded Vandelem-'s 
brigade in pursuit of the French at 
Waterloo, 393, 394, 397 

Smohain, 183, 191 ; attacked by Du- 
rutte, 239, 242, 346; occupied by 
the Prussians, 302, 303, 304, 346 

Soignies, Forest of , 172, 173 «., 178; 
alleged danger from, 207, 208, 
210 n., 222, 327 n. 

Sombreffe (see Ligny) 

Somerset, Lord Fitzroy (Lord Raglan), 
secretary to the Duke of Welling- 
ton, 215 ?t. ; lost his arm at Water- 
loo, 379 n., 380 71. 

Somerset, Maj.-Gen. Lord Edward, 



512 



INDEX. 



sou 



TRI 



commander ist (Household) bri- 
gade of British Horse Guards, 22 ; 
his position at Waterloo, 205 ; in 
the grand cavalry charge, 25 1-255, 
264, 265 ; his escape, 265 n. ; resists 
French cavalry charges, 289, 295, 
308, 309 ; losses of his brigade, 
308, 332 n. ; maintains his position, 
3i4'»,. 

Soult, Marshal, Napoleon's chief of 
staif, negligent discharge of duties, 
39'«.., 161 n., 16471 ; refuses Grouchy 
access to Napoleon after Ligny, 
115 ?i., 116 ?J.; observes Bulow's 
approach to Waterloo, 150 71., 155 ; 
opposes Ney's measures at Waterloo, 
293 ?i. ; with Napoleon in his flight, 
402 

Sourd, Col. (French), his alleged hero- 
ism, 138 n. 

Southey, Robert, poet-laureate, 433 ; 
his Poefs Pilgrimage to Waterloo, 
175 '«., 438-440; extracts from, 
135 ^''■> 136 n., 173 n., 174 n., 176 ft., 
187 n., 190 n., 192 71., 193 n., 198 n., 
390 n. ; his prose accounts of his 
tour, 136 71., 172 n., 378 n., 438 ; as 
Little Jack Horner, 439, 440. 

Spain, refused to join the Alliance, 7 «. 

Steinmetz, Gen. von., commander ist 
Prussian brigade, 23 ; at Ligny, 96 ; 
entered the battle of Waterloo, 
339' 346 > attacked and defeated 
Durutte, 346, 348, 349. 

Sterne, Laurence, his Tristirwi. 
Shandy, quotation from, 493 71. 

Subervie, Lt.-Gen., commanded 5th 
French cavalry division, 26 ; led 
piwsuit of Anglo-Allies from Quatre 
Bras to Waterloo, 130, 131 ; his 
position at Waterloo, 210, 212 ; op- 
posed the Prussian attack, 234 ; 
attacked by the Prussians, 304 71. 

Sympher, Capt., commanding horse 
battery King's German Legion, 
position at Waterloo, 307 ; services, 
320. 



TAYLOR, Capt.T. W., his poem, The 
Death of Ho7va7'd, quoted, 391- 

393 «'• 
Tennyson, Alfi-ed, poet-laureate, his 

Ode 071 the Death of the Duhe of 

Wellimgton, 465-473. 
Teste, Lt.-Gen., commander 21st 

French infantry division, 25 ; with 

Grouchy on the march on Wavre, 

144 71., 147. 



Thackeray, W. M., his Booh of S7whs, 
quotation from, 434-436 ; Chrofiicle 
of the Dr 11711 quoted, 475-492 ; sug- 
gested by Heine's Ideas, 4757?.,; 
Va7iity Fair, quotations from, 52^,., 
78 ?i., 215 01.; on Scott, 434-437; 
on Southey, 439, 440. 

Thielmann, Gen. von, commander 
Prussian 3d corps, 24 ; collects his 
corps to meet invasion, 53, 54 ; at 
Ligny, 91, 94»., 98, 105, iii; in 
the retreat to Wavre, 113, 119, 125 ; 
designated to command rearguard 
in march to Waterloo, 152 ; de- 
tained at Wavre by Grouchy's at- 
tack, 154, 155, 162; defends Wavre 
against Grouchy (see Battle of 
Wavre), i56«., 163, 165; losses, 
301 ». 

Thiers, Adolphe, his Co7isulate aiid 
Empire, quotations from, 22, 32, 
43 ft., 58 ft., 68?;.., 82 M., iii?i., 
115, 120 n., 123 ft., 126 71., 129, 132, 
137 n., 139 71., 141, 143, 145, 158 ft., 
161 ?;., 164 ft., 166 ft., 171, 180 ft., 
195 ?i., 208 71., 217 7^., 220, 229 ?i., 

231, 232 ?l., 235 71., 237 ?l., 242, 
244 71., 266 71,, 290 71., 293 n„ 296 71,, 
301 71,, 303, 315 ft., 318 ft., 327 71., 

336, 343 n., 349, 356 71., 358 71., 
375 ^''•> 385 n,., 400, 402 ; statements 
res]3ecting Napoleon's health, 32, 
37 ; censures of Soult, 39 «., 161 ?i., 
164 71. ; of Ney, 43 91., 61 %., 63 71., 
65 n., 123 71., 124 71., 129 w., 277 71., 
293 n., 300; of Grouchy, 115%., 
124%., 129?;,., 146 «, 151 ft., 1567!.., 
158 «., 161 71., 16471., 168, 171; 
inaccuracies of, 58 7i , iii 7i., 138 71., 
139 7?.., 203 71., 213 7?., 220 n,, 

28571., 316 7t., 372 7^., 39874., 407; 

false statements of, 63 71., 115 71., 

123 71., 12471., 12971., I46«-., 151 71., 
158 ft., 168, 169, 235 ft., 261 71., 

263 ft., 277 71., 300 71., 301 71., 39671. ; 
as prime minister under Louis 
Philippe, promoted the removal of 
Napoleon's remains from St. Helena 
to Paris, 474 ; President of France 
in his old age, 120 7i. 

Tippelskirclien, Gen. von, commander 
5tli Prussian brigade, 24 ; attacked 
Planchenoit, 347, 348, 350-3S4- 

Trevelyan, G. Otto, his TAfe a7id 
Letters of Macaada]], quotations 
from, 224 ft., 493. 

Tripp, Maj.-Geu., commander ist 
brigade Dutch-Belgian cavalry, 22 ; 
his troops worthless at Waterloo^ 



INDEX. 



513 



TUR 



WEA 



280, 309 ; his personal cowardice, 
309. 
Turenne, French general of division, 
testimony as to Napoleon's death, 
236 ?t. 



TpriFORMS, resemblance of, to the 
U French causes the D utch- Belgians 
to be fired upon by the English 
at Quatre Bras, 69 n., 334 re. ; at 
Waterloo, 334 re. ; the Nassauers, by 
the Prussians, at Papelotte, 346, 
347 n. 
Usbridge, Lt.-Gen., the Earl of 
(afterwards Marqiiis of Anglesea), 
commander of Anglo- Allied cavalry, 
22 ; commanded rearguard in the 
retreat from Quatre Bras to Water- 
loo, 131, 134, 136-139; his position 
at Waterloo, 205 ; leads the grand 
cavalry charge, 251-255, 264-271; 
encounters the French attacks, 308- 
311,332%.; in the final advance, 
378 ; wounded, and loses his leg, 
378 re. ; his services slighted by 
Wellington, 375 re. 



VANDAMME, Lt.-Gen. Count, 
commander 3d corps (French), 
25 ; delayed movement of the 
army, June 15, 38, 39, 44 ; at Ligny, 
92-95, 96, 107, III ; his disgust at 
the delay in pursuing, 126 re. ; with 
Grouchy on the march on Wavre, 
144 re., 145, 160; delayed the 
march, 146 re., 157, 158; sup- 
ports Gerard in urging Grouchy to 
march to Waterloo, 161 ; skirmish 
with Prussian rearguard, 162 ; at- 
tacks Wavre (see Battle op 
Wavee), 163. 
Vandeleur, Maj.-Gen. Sir John, com- 
mander 4th British cavalry brigade, 
22 ; churlishness of, 68 re., 332 re. ; 
with rearguard in retreat from 
Quatre Bras to Waterloo, 131, 133 ; 
his position at Waterloo, 201 ; 
charge in rescue of the Union 
Brigade, 266-270 ; ordered to the 
support of the right wing, 332 re., 
339' 355 ^- ; restrained D'Aubreme's 
Dutch-Belgian brigade from flying, 
363 re., 373 re. ; supported Vivian 
in final charge, 377 ; commanded 
cavalry after Uxbridge's fall, 378, 
393 ; pursuit by his brigade, 393, 
394. 397. 



Van Loben Sels on Grouchy's march 
on Wavre, 147 re. ; his Pieces de la 
Camimgnede 181 5, quotations from, 
346 re., 347. 

Van Merlen, Maj.-Gen., commander 
Dutch- Belgian cavahy brigade, 22 ; 
routed at Quatre Bras, 68, 69 re. 

Vienna, Congress of, measui-es to re^ 
sist Napoleon, 4-7 ; disregard of 
national right, 407, 408. 

Vincke, Col. von, commander 5th 
Hanoverian brigade, 22 ; his posi- 
tion at Waterloo, 201 ; in the battle, 
270 re., 333 re. 

Vivian, Maj.-Gen., Sir Hussey, com- 
mander 6th British cavalry brigade, 
22 ; advanced to Quatre Bras, 68 re. ; 
with rearguard on retreat to Water- 
loo, 120, 130, 131, 133 ; his position 
at Waterloo, 200, 201 ; in the battle, 
270 ; moved to support the right 
wing, 332, 339, 355 re, ; his charge 
in the final advance, 369, 370-373, 
377. 379, 389-395- 



WAR, no declaration of, 14 re., 
54 re. 
Waterloo Poetry, 415-494 ; Byron, 
415-422, 459-465. 474^-; Dela- 
vigne, Casimir, 457-459; Heine, 
Heinrich, 454, 455, 461, 475 re. ; 
Hood, Thomas, 455-457 ; Hortense, 
Queen, 426-430 ; Hugo, Victor, 451, 
461 ; Macaulay, 443, 492, 493 ; 
Scott, G. B., 443-451 ; Scott, John, 
477 n. ; Scott, Sir W., 423-437, 
441, 451; Southey, 438-440 ; Tenny- 
son, 465-473 ; Thackeray, 475- 
492 ; Wordsworth, 442, 443 ; Zed- 
litz. Baron von, 452-454 ; minor 
English poets, 440. 

Waterloo, village of, 172 ; name mis- 
applied to the battle (see Battle), 
1 72 re. ; field of, surveyed before 
the invasion, 15, 139; field altei-ed 
since tlie battle, 178 re. ; monument, 
178 re., 184, 281 ; Wellington's 
headquarters at, 1 72 re., 398 re, 

Wavre, Prussian retreat to, 113, 118- 
120, 121 ; roads from Ligny to 
Wavre, 119 re., 146, 159; from 
Wavre to Waterloo, 119 re., 151, 156, 
157, 161, 162, 167, 169, 300; Prus- 
sian troops delayed in the streets 
of, 154; battle of (see Battle) 

Weather during the campaign, 37, 
51 re., 131-133, 141, 142, 168, 
219 re. 



L L 



5H 



INDEX. 



ZIE 



Weir, Serjeant, Scots Greys, killed at 
Waterloo, 267 n. 

Wellington, Duke of, commander 
Anglo- Allied army, 21 ; made his 
headquarters at Brussels, 12, 13 ». ; 
dreaded an attack on his right 
tiank, 14, 28, 67 n., 122, 141, 206 n , 
207, 208, 209 n., 279 ; contemplated 
an ofEensive campaign, 14%.; his 
preparations for the campaign, 13- 
16, 29 ; complaints at the quality of 
Irs army, 16, 20, 197 n., 198 n., 
221 71. ; tardiness of his movements, 
29, 30 n., 48, 49, 52, 53 n., 55, 67 w., 
79 /i. Advanced to Quatre Bras, 
49, 50 n., 58 ; inspected Bllicher's 
position at Ligny, and disapproved 
it, 60 n., 94 11. ; in the battle of 
Quatre Bras, 68, 70, 87 ; his escaj)e, 
74. Ignorant of the result at 
Ligny, 109 n. At Quatre Bras, on 
June 16, 112, 120-122, 130; con- 
certed with Bliicher their retreat 
and union at Waterloo, 120, 121, 
141 ; retreated, 121, 131. At 
Waterloo before the battle, 152, 
214,221 71. ; expected the Prussians 
before their arrival was possible, 
221 ; appealed to Bliicher for sup- 
port, 157, 300 «., 339; neglected 
the defence of La Haye Sainte, 202, 
340. His close personal supervision 
of the battle, 281 71., 283 n., 299 n. ; 
superintended the defence of Hou- 
gomont, 22171., 243 '/i.; directed 
cavalry charge to oppose D'Erlon's 
attack, 251 ; brought up reserves 
into the first line, 294, 312, 319, 
321, 323, 373 n. ; constantly at post 
of danger, 243 n., 326 71., 332, 377, 
379 ; casualties among his staff, 
379 ; repaired his broken centre, 
330> 33i» 360; prepared to repel 
the charge of the Guard, 356, 357 ti., 
360 ; commanded in the defeat 
of the Guard, 361, 362, 365 n. 
Doubted the result of the battle, 
207, 323 71., 339 71., 342 71. In the 
general final advance, 372, 373-379. 
Stopped pursuit by his troops at 
Rossome, 386, 398 ; met Bliicher at 
Genappe, not at La Belle Alliance, 
398 71. Made commander of the Al- 
lied army of occupation in France, 
409 71. Opposed accounts of the 
battle, 246 71. His treatment of his 
officers, 19 71., 311 M., 374 »., 381 71. ; 
of Mercer, 19 n., 307 71., 312 ». ; of 
the Prince of Orange, 50 71. ; of 



Picton, 248 71. ; of Colborne, 374 «. ; 
of Frazer, 374 ; of Uxbridge, 375 71. ; 
little independence of action 
among his officers, 369, 370 71. In- 
gratitude to his army, 197 n., 198 «-., 
311 71. His repugnance to innova- 
tion, as to rockets, 19%., 271 71,; 
as to guns of large calibre, 374. 
His character as drawn by Byron, 
341 71., 459-465 ; by Victor Hugo, 
461 n.; by Heine, 461, 462 71.; by 
McCarthy, 462 n. ; by Tennyson, 
465-473. His opinion of "little 
wars," 410 71. 
•' Wellington tree " at Waterloo, 182, 

184, 189, 237, 313 71. 

Whately, Archbishop, his Historic 
Do7(,hts relative to Na}}oleo7i Buona- 
parte, quotations from, 233 11., 439 

Whinyates, Maj., commander British 
rocket troop, 19 7i. ; rockets ordered 
into store by the Duke of Welling- 
ton, 19 71. ; used rockets against the ( 
pursuing French on the retreat to 
Waterloo, 139 ».; in the battle of 
Waterloo, 271, 314 

William, Prince, of Prussia, Gen. cojn- 
manding reserve cavalry, attacks 
French right flank at Waterloo, 
303, 304, 335 ; invades France 
again as Emperor of Germany, 410 

Winterfeldt, Major, aide-de-camp to 
Bliicher, sent to announce to Wel- 
lington tlie loss of the battle of 
Ligny, 109 ; was shot, and his mes- 
sage lost, 109 71., 117 

Woodford^ Lt. Col., Coldstream 
Guards, at the defence of Hougo- 
mont, 230 

Wordsworth, William, his egotism, 
422, 423 71. ; his belief that he in- 
spired Byron, 422 ; his sonnet 
Occasioned by the Battle of Water- 
loo, 442, 443 

Wyndham, Capt., Coldstream Guards, 
at the defence of Hougomont, 228 7i., 
229 



YOEK, Duke of, his opinion of Wel- 
lington, 374 71., 375 
Ywan, Imperial body surgeon, his 
testimony as to Napoleon's health, 
35 

ZEDLITZ, Baron von, his poem, The 
MidnigM Revie7v, 452 
Zieten, Gen. von, commander Prussian 
1st corps, 23; prepared for Nape- 



INDEX. 



515 



leon's advance, 29, 30, 31 ; retreat, 
June 15, 44, 45, 53, 91, 95 w.; at 
Ligny, 91, 109 ; in the retreat to 
Wavre, 113, 119, 147 ; march from 
Wavre to Waterloo, 152, 154; en- 
tered the battle of Waterloo, 235, 
332 «■. 339. 345 ; supposed Anglo- 



ZIE 



Allied army to be retreating, 328 «.' 
345 ; refused to support Welling- 
ton, 339 ; his advance directed by 
MiifSing, 332 n., 346 ; attacked 
and defeated Durutte, 346, 347, 
349) 358 ^^-t 368 n. ; pursued the 
French, 375 «., 377, 399 



THE END. 



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